Monarchs of a New World
by Birdboy
Summary: After defeating Apocalymon, the Chosen Children remain in the Digital World, and stumble by default into the position of rulers. But governing is a difficult task for children from another world, and the tensions of power soon boil over into war.
1. Chapter 1

With both worlds saved, the chosen children looked towards the sun – its slowly shrinking eclipse reflecting the closing digital gate. And then they looked back to Gennai, who had come to warn them of the danger they faced and show them the way home. "This world may view your data as anomalies and erase you."

"May? So it may not?" Yamato asked.

"Indeed, the possibility does exist that the rebuilding digital world will treat your data as local – or as something far stranger," Gennai answered. "Still, children, I would strongly suggest you return home."

"We've faced danger before! We're not afraid," Yamato shot back.

"It's one thing to risk your life when the world needs you, but quite another to risk it for no reason at all," Gennai said.

"No reason at all? What about our digimon? Are they in danger too?" a worried Mimi cried. "Is any data safe in this world? And even if it is, who's going to be in charge? Are we just giving them back to someone like Devimon or Etemon?"

"Of course not," an exasperated Gennai responded. "The evil digimon you faced were created by Apocalymon, and now that he's been defeated, there's nothing left to fear. This world will rebuild, with or without you."

"Well I'm staying," Takeru declared. "This world's a lot more fun, and the digital world's gone through a lot of trouble. I think they still need us."

"You may be right about that," Hikari added. "Don't worry about us, Gennai-san. We've survived far worse challenges."

"I'm sorry, Gennai-san," Koushirou said, "but I'm staying too. What I can learn from a rebuilding digital world is far more interesting than what I can discover in my own."

Gennai turned first to Hikari, then to Kentarumon, and at the old temple guardian's nod he relented. "The digital world may not need you anymore – but perhaps it still does, and it's clear that none of you are ready for your adventure to conclude. I suppose we owe it to you to allow you to remain, and I sincerely hope that your decision will not backfire."

"Then it's settled," Taichi said with a smile. "Onto the next phase of our adventure!"

* * *

The digital world, as it so happened, did not erase the Chosen Children; it could not do something so cruel to the heroes who had rescued it from Apocalymon. Together with their partners and most of the world's surviving digimon, they worked day after day to rebuild the cities and homes that years of wars and deletions had wrecked.

Although the digimon had far greater knowledge of the world's architecture in the era before Spiral Mountain, the Chosen Children had unwittingly taken something of a leading role in organizing the project. In part, this was because human children, despite their best efforts, were still physically weaker than Child digimon, let alone Adult or Perfect ones, so they sought to make themselves useful by organizing them. And in part it was simply because virtually every digimon would _listen_.

The Dark Masters they defeated had been the world's _only_ masters; now that they had been defeated, many digimon had come to look to their liberators for guidance. Yet all the children were surprised when a letter arrived from the wilderness of File Island, one which requested that they arbitrate a territorial dispute between two Monochromon.

"We've only figured out how to fight and build things before. We're not qualified to do this," a reluctant Yamato said, worry clear in his voice. "Compared to them, we're still newcomers. How can we be sure we'll make the right decision?"

"But they came to us, and someone has to decide," Sora responded. "We should at least hear them out."

"I do wonder how this would be settled this in our absence." Koushirou noted curiously. "When we first entered the digital world, a fight between two Monochromon almost killed us."

"Let's do it, then," Taichi declared, and sat down to pen a reply to their letter answering the request in the affirmative.

The two digimon did not have to travel far to reach the Chosen Children's improptu 'court' – a wide, expansive structure which had been built to house a few human children from the elements, but which digimon kept making bigger and bigger until it had all the splendor of TonosamaGeckomon's castle, complete with an audience hall at the entrance. Word of the judgment had led Mimi to propose creating opposing bars and a bench 'like a real court', and although the digimon who built it had a very alien conception of a courtroom, it did serve the purpose of physically separating the two disputants from one another as they slowly rumbled into the building.

"State your case," Taichi said, looking closely at the Monochromon on the left.

"You may notice that the topography of the digital world isn't the same as it was in the old days," that Monochromon began, his voice booming throughout the court. "A small forest has materialized on our mountain, to the west of the cliff that has long marked the eastern barrier of my territory."

"But it's to the east of the ledge that marks the western barrier of mine," the other Monochromon replied. "We tried to settle it in the traditional manner, but our battle ended in stalemate."

"Couldn't you just divide the land?" Taichi asked curiously.

"We could, but there are no clear boundaries within the forest, and it contains portions of what used to be my terrain."

"And portions of what were once mine. There's a part which has an incline exactly the same angle as a missing portion of my hill."

"But it also has that weird round clump of boulders I keep tripping over."

As the two Monochromon continued to argue, Taichi grew no closer to understanding the case – let alone to dispensing an equitable form of justice that would antagonize neither party. He was inclined to declare it simply their shared territory, when Hikari suddenly bolted from the court and out the front door, claiming she heard an injured digimon dragging itself to the court's steps.

Although the digimon in question was quite small, Hikari and Tailmon lacked the strength to lift his heavy, stone body. After some calls for help, the Gotsumon enter the court riding Ikkakumon, with his misshapen legs covered in dirt and grass and his hands heavily calloused. And then he loudly declared that he had been injured in the fight between the pair of Monochromon.

"The forest divides your territory entirely, correct?" Taichi asked, seeking clarification as he pondered a solution. "You don't have another border?"

"That's correct," both Monochromon agreed, answering simultaneously; Taichi struggled to recognize where the voices where coming from.

"And one of you did do this to him, right?" Taichi asked.

"It was the other one who stepped on him!"

"But you're the one who suggested having the battle there!"

"Then as payment for the injuries both of you inflicted, this territory now belongs to Gotsumon!" Taichi shouted, banged the "gavel" (in truth a combination of a large stick and a stone, collected by a fairly confused Agumon) then turned to the wounded, bipedal rock monster. "I want you to keep them apart and make sure they don't fight, okay?"

Elated and surprised, his arduous journey a success, the wounded Gotsumon gladly accepted his new task. "But give me some time at the hospital here to get some DigiMedicine and heal up first."

"Sure."

The two Monochromon, disappointed but understanding, returned to their respective sides of the mountain, each wishing for their own share of the forest but relieved not to border one another anymore.

* * *

As the weeks turned to months, more and more digimon came to the Chosen Children to settle their disputes, prevent violence, and organize whatever grand projects needed to be organized; untold power was slowly and unwittingly assembled in their fingers. Every now and then, they would set out alongside their digimon to fight someone who fancied themselves a successor of Devimon or Etemon, or even just a local boss or lord. Nearly all of their foes surrendered the moment the chosen children arrived, and those few who resisted were easily subdued by WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, AtlurKabuterimon, Zudomon, Lilymon, HolyAngemon, or Angewomon.

But this report was different. Both because of the identity of their leader, and because he had assembled followers – not just a few henchmen, but an army numbering in the hundreds if not thousands.

"It's Ogremon. We can't fight Ogremon," Mimi said, shaking her head.

"Complaints are coming in from some of the villages his forces have taken over," Koushirou responded, scanning one of said letters; he was of half a mind to read it aloud were the conversation not moving so quickly.

"And if we don't prevent him from resisting our rulings, why would any digimon would accept them in the future?" Yamato added. "Sorry, Mimi-chan, but we have to do something. Otherwise it'd just be chaos."

"But he's one of us! He fought beside us against the Dark Masters! Yamato-san, Koushirou-kun, you aren't seriously thinking about fighting him, are you?" Mimi pleaded desperately, trying to hold back tears.

"Back at the start of our adventure, when we were on File Island, he was willing to attack baby digimon on behalf of Devimon," Taichi noted. "Maybe he's reverted to his old ways."

"He attacked me back then as well, Taichi. But you didn't see how eager he was to protect us from MetalEtemon. He's a changed digimon, and if he's fighting us, there must be a good reason for it," Jou said, thinking back to their fights together; would they really have to make an enemy of Ogremon again?

"But we have a good reason as well," Koushirou responded, shaking his head sadly. "His army is getting bigger with every settlement he conquers, and if we don't confront him now, we may ultimately have to fight him here."

"Or worse, other digimon might lead their own armies, knowing that we were unwilling to crush him. Maybe he won't rule the digital world. Maybe it'll just be chaos," a shuddering Hikari added.

"Do what you want. I'm not fighting," Mimi said, turning her back to the other Chosen Children and crossing her arms.

"Mimi-chan, I'm sorry," Taichi said, then paused. "Everyone who's willing to go with me to fight Ogremon, let's head out. And if you're not coming, I totally understand."

With a heavy heart – and without a Lilymon beside them – seven children ventured out to the far western reaches of the digital world. They approached Ogremon's forces from the air, thirteen of them held in Garudamon's enormous hands, and landed once they spotted his banner in the shape of their foe's green, horned face. The army which Ogremon had assembled was thousands strong, mobilized in square columns, but it was rare to spot even an adult-level digimon among its ranks; most of the soldiers were Goblimon, with a few Kunemon, Mushmon, and other virus types thrown in.

Taichi approached Ogremon's forces under a flag of truce, and their leader – whether out of respect or simply anger – walked out to meet him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you guys are incompetent. I know you mean well, but you're just a bunch of kids who don't know a thing about the digital world. We're all tired of taking orders from you!" Ogremon shouted, and his army cheered his every word.

"Didn't we fight side by side against the Dark Masters?" Taichi pleaded.

"Yeah, and look what happened after. I didn't stop those guys from taking over the world just so you could ride in and rule it in their absence."

"We did the best we could. No one wants to see everyone just go back to fighting all the time again."

"You guys are basically the human world equivalent of child level, right? I wouldn't let this guy boss me around, no offense," Ogremon said, gesturing with his club to one of the many Goblimon in his army. "You don't know what you're doing, you're in over your heads, and when you try to rule without a clue you just end up breaking things. Most of my gang is here because one of your rulings or decrees screwed them over and they wanted to fight back."

"And what about you? Do you have a clue? You're taking over villages, one after another," Taichi replied, but his voice seemed more sad than angry. "We've got a lot of letters back in File Island complaining about your troops. They're saying that you're glorified gangsters, no better than Devimon. You take their homes and food and if they complain you just whack them with clubs."

"Devimon was a good lord. A lot better than the Dark Masters, and honestly a lot better than what we have now. It's not like what you're doing is any different – you just use different weapons!"

"You really want a battle?" Taichi asked, but the loud roar and stamped feet of Ogremon's vast army answered the question more clearly than any reply from their leader ever could – and none of them would be dissuaded by Taichi's statement, meant as a warning but taken as a boast, that they couldn't possibly win. Nor were they at all bothered by the sound in the background of six digimon evolving to their highest achieved forms – two to Ultimate, four to Perfect – to join Garudamon in the fight.

"So he thinks we're pushovers, huh? Let's show him what we can do!" The shout came from a Goblimon somewhere in the crowd, and at that signal, the army began to swarm and envelop Taichi. Ogremon's army hurled a barrage of spiked, wooden clubs at the head of the Chosen Children's leader, along with a few electrified nets, poisonous spores, and other attacks he struggled to even recognize. As Taichi tried to duck out of the way, he heard the clubs clang harmlessly off of WarGreymon's chrome digizoid armor.

"Gaia Force!" WarGreymon raised his claws to summon an enormous ball of golden light, which he slammed into the ground in front of him, dispersing those of his foes who did not disintegrate instantly on contact. The army Ogremon had assembled ran in every direction, including towards the chosen children; most had run for their lives, but more than a few were still willing to risk them (or simply throw them away) to bring the chosen children down.

"Saint Air!" Or at least, they _had_ been running. Angewomon lifted her arms to create a ring of rainbow light in midair, which froze the weaker digimon – both those fleeing and those charging – in place.

"Stop that! Ogremon's hurt! They're running away!" Jou shouted, and Zudomon ignored the charging Blossomon and Deramon to restrain the female angel who was his nominal ally.

"Can't you see we've won this fight?" Yamato asked, watching as Garudamon sent a Shadow Wing into the two plant digimon. "Taichi, we need to call off the battle. Don't let it turn into a slaughter."

"Heaven's Gate!" HolyAngemon waved his purple sword in a circle, and another charging horde of Goblimon were absorbed into another dimension, outside this one – or perhaps simply slain.

"They haven't surrendered." Hikari responded, as an egg from the Deramon whizzed past her face. "We're doing what we must."

MetalGarurumon knocked HolyAngemon from the sky – prompting a furious Takeru to shout "How could you!" at his older brother. Garudamon stayed out of the battle, while AtlurKabuterimon flew high above most of Ogremon's army and tried carefully to snipe only the higher-level foes from the air.

"Don't you see what your digimon was doing? Better to lose one battle than win like this..." Yamato answered, as his younger brother cried.

As Angewomon broke free of Zudomon's grip and began firing again, Jou rushed over to Ogremon, carrying a first aid kit, and threw himself in front of his foe as Angewomon notched an arrow – and as Taichi watched with WarGreymon, paralyzed by indecision.

"Stop this! I give up!"

In the end, it was Ogremon who blinked first.

* * *

"That's why I told you to stay home if you weren't comfortable with the mission! Forget not slaughtering them – with two defectors we could've lost the battle outright!" It was not the first time in his adventure that Taichi had felt a strong desire to punch Yamato – but it was the first time he had thrown the first punch.

And the first time that Yamato didn't punch back. He reeled from the blow, which left a bruise on his cheek, and yet he didn't seem the slightest bit angry – not at Taichi, anyway. "I didn't know anything about Ogremon's army. Most of them were children. They didn't stand a chance," he said remorsefully. "I deserved that. Takeru hit me too, but he was too small for it to hurt."

"I have no idea what we're doing," Taichi said, with no more confidence than his rival and best friend. "Why was Ogremon fighting us to begin with? Jou hasn't said a word to me – I don't blame him, Angewomon could've killed him if Ogremon wasn't faster – and I keep putting off reporting this to Mimi because of how I'm sure she'll react. Maybe it's time for us to go home."

"But we can't go home. The gate's still closed. And I think the digital world still needs us." Yamato answered, casting a glance to the sun; maybe they had made a mistake in staying here.

"It may need us, once we figure this out. But I don't think it needs me to be the leader." And with that, Yagami Taichi walked away.

Taichi had been prepared to take a slap, a punch, or even a Flow Cannon whenever he next encountered Tachikawa Mimi. But when she caught sight of him in the hallway, on his way back from his meeting with Yamato, the only thing she did was cry.

* * *

However great the discord among the Chosen Children, the digital world would not stop for them, and neither did the business of ruling it cease. The day after seven children returned from the battle with Ogremon, a bitter dispute between the Geckomon and the Numemon came before all eight.

Although only one Numemon and one Geckomon were allowed into the front of the court to argue the case, both had arrived with significant entourages who constantly traded barbs with each other. When the Chosen Children began to question the two representatives, for they sought to ascertain the basic facts of the dispute, the answers were drowned out by cries from the gallery of "Liar!"

"The next digimon in the audience to shout will lose their case for their side!" Taichi didn't want to give that order – if nothing else, it was a patently unfair way to decide what was clearly a serious dispute – but the threat at least worked for now to quiet the crowd.

After a great deal of insults and minor factual disputes, it had become apparent to the Chosen Children that the sewers where the Numemon had long lived had been relocated by the rebuilding Digital World to the ground beneath Gecko Castle. The Geckomon representative insisted that they understood the need for sanitation and did not begrudge the Numemon their homes, which the Numemon disputed. The Numemon representative insisted that the boundaries between sewer and castle were unclear, and that any Numemon encroachments into bedrooms, vending machines, and palaces were wholly unintentional.

"But you _have_ desecrated the palace halls with poop, correct?" Mimi asked from one of the eight judge boxes.

"We Numemon rely on poop to defend ourselves, and no offense was intended," the Numemon representative explained, his stalk eyes peering over his notes. "We've even apologized for those incidents when some of our number threw poop to prank you, and worked tirelessly to clean up your castle in the aftermath."

"But when we tried to wall off the sewers, you protested! And that was the worst the poop problem ever got!" the Geckomon representatives shouted – and although the Geckomon in the gallery were forbidden from _shouting_ , they soon realized the text of Taichi's statement did not forbid them from loudly honking their horns, and the Numemon were the first to rise their _voices_ in protest.

"But those walls would have trapped them underground," Hikari said sadly, her quiet voice almost a whisper; if not for the hall's acoustics none of the Numemon would have heard her defend them.

"So what? Numemon belong underground! Their bodies can't even handle direct sunlight!" Mimi shouted, recalling the many times she had answered their romantic requests with a punch. "The Geckomon have done nothing wrong to those creepy digimon!"

"Even Numemon want to go outside sometimes, if only at night," Hikari answered, standing up and leaning to the edge of her judge's box. "Mugendramon also sealed them in the sewers. This is cruel."

The Geckomon and Numemon in the audience listened to the two quarrel, surprised that the arguments were coming not from the two digimon they had brought to represent them, but from the Chosen Children themselves – and to both sides, it offered further proof of the righteousness of their champion. Shouts of "Hikari-sama!" and "Princess Mimi" echoed through the raucous crowd.

Taichi had given up on any attempts to enforce silence and was forced to wait for them to quiet down; it was impossible, despite his earlier threat, to successfully assign blame – at least to either party in the crowd.

The actual dispute was another matter.

The two advocates eventually finished presenting their cases – not their arguing, admittedly, but at least the facts on which they argued. The evidence in favor of their respective positions had become clear to the court, and the trial had devolved into the Geckomon advocate calling the Numemon a disgusting slug who made the castle smell horrible, while the Numemon responded by calling him a noisy frog whose music made it impossible to sleep at night. The crowd cheered every barb, and Hikari and Mimi's partisanship in the case had not remotely diminished.

It was time for Taichi to call a recess.

Every decision the Chosen Children had made so far they had made as a unit, and it was rare for their conference before the verdict to reveal even differences of opinion, let alone strongly held ones. This was another matter.

It did seem to the majority of the Chosen Children that the Geckomon were _more_ in the wrong, although the Numemon had hardly acted like angels. But Mimi had long viewed the Numemon (with a few exceptions) as disgusting, and was unwilling to countenance their "aggression" in what she had accidentally referred to a couple times as "her palace." Hikari was equally unwilling to accept anything which smacked of a concession; the Numemon, she reminded them, had fought nobly beside them against Mugendramon, and they had suffered enough.

"Maybe we should just make them compromise. Rule for neither party," ." Sora's suggestion would clearly not meet the approval of the other two female Chosen Children, but perhaps it would receive sufficient votes to settle their dispute anyway.

"But what would such a compromise even look like? Do we just do nothing?" Koushirou asked, deep in thought as he tried in vain to answer his own question. "The border incidents aside, these digimon clearly don't like each other's company."

"Maybe we could mess with the borders. Give a small part of the castle to the Numemon, with a door to the outside world, in exchange for some of the sewers..." Jou suggested, but with little confidence; the proposal was half speculation.

"What would Geckomon want with sewers?" Taichi asked, and Mimi nodded furiously at his words. "The Numemon will just treat that as a victory, and the Geckomon will be furious."

"You have any better ideas?" Yamato asked.

"I think we have to pick sides here," Koushirou added, although he clearly sounded like he was wishing otherwise.

"Sora, do you have any ideas for a compromise?" Takeru asked, but she sadly shook her head.

"Okay, time to vote," Taichi said with a heavy heart; Mimi had been glaring at his younger sister (and vice versa) for half the trial, both had a strong connection to one of the parties in the case, and whoever lost could not possibly take it well.

But he couldn't postpone it forever.

Sora refused to vote either way, as did Jou, and Taichi understood too well the logic behind their decision – the fact that they were probably Mimi's closest friends among the chosen children didn't help matters. But Hikari's arguments and those of the Numemon counsel had won the day, and when Taichi read out the votes, the case had been decided 5 to 1 in favor of the Numemon.

And then, with tears in her eyes, Mimi shouted "I hate you!" crossed her arms, and stormed out of the digital world's capitol – and the building the Chosen Children, _all_ the Chosen Children, had for so long called home.

* * *

There has long been a legend among the Geckomon, like among many other peoples and digimon species around both world, that their departed monarch will return to them in their hour of greatest need. This legend had long been applied to TonosamaGeckomon in his three long centuries of sleep, but when he finally awakened he proved as unpopular a lord as any of his regents; all he accomplished was to wreck much of their castle, rebury himself in rubble, and then awaken again to be defeated by the Dark Masters.

It is quite understandable in this situation that the subject of the Geckomon legend would be transferred from a _tonosama_ to a princess.

If one looks at the history of the Geckomon, it is hard to consider hordes of Numemon throwing poop through the castle halls to be their hour of greatest need – even if, as the rumors alleged, the Chosen Children had in fact preserved their "right" to do so – but present generations have always understated the struggles of the past. Every night they prayed to their digimon gods that their sweet-voiced human princess, Tachikawa Mimi, the Idol of Purity, would return to them.

The first time that Mimi had arrived in Gecko Castle, she had fully intended to stay there forever, but the other Chosen Children had taken her away. Now, she was furious with her comrades – both for fighting Ogremon and for ruling against the Numemon – and determined to fight back.

The remnants of the army Ogremon had gathered to fight the Chosen Children arrived with her, as did Ogremon himself, Unimon, Meramon, and quite a few other digimon from the army she had led against the Dark Masters. TonosamaGeckomon protested, but he had no support either inside or outside the castle, and surrendered to his new princess without a fight.

Mimi's old princess dress had been preserved by the Geckomon, and the crown she had discarded would return to her head in a coronation ceremony attended by all the castle, at which she pledged to drive out the Numemon and protect the Geckomon and Otamamon from all their foes – human and digimon alike! A new flag – pink, with a green teardrop of Purity – was hung from the castle's roof, and the Geckomon and Otamamon celebrated their princess through the night with a karaoke ball at which Princess Mimi sang louder than anyone.

" _When I wish on a star, with my pride riding the wind, I can see a tomorrow that can't be erased by today. I wish..."_

And then the castle prepared for war.


	2. Chapter 2

_Yagami Hikari._ The light of the eight gods.

Admittedly, this was a somewhat creative bit of interpretation on the part of the Numemon; Hikari did indeed mean light, and Yagami was likewise read as "eight gods", but there were no articles or prepositions in her name. And of course, while the Chosen Children did seem like gods to many a digimon, one of those eight had switched sides, and six more seemed utterly disinterested in combating her.

"It's easy for you to fight her, Hikari-chan. Your bond isn't that strong."

The Numemon delegation had remained in the great halls that the world's digimon had constructed to be the Chosen Children's capitol; they had won in court, but Mimi's rebellion made it an empty victory. This was not simply an act of political protest – the Geckomon had sealed their relatives beneath their castle and barred the doors, and they had no way home.

Yagami Hikari was the least close to Mimi of the chosen children; while the other six had gone on long adventures with her, she had known the child of Purity only briefly, and seldom during her best moments. Only after their victory over Apocalymon had the two of them really started to become friends, and she wondered if Sora was right in saying that the others were simply too close to Mimi to fight her.

"But someone has to free the Numemon."

The one thing that stood out about Yagami Hikari was her sense of duty to others – human and digimon alike. To her older brother, this made her something of a fool in dire need of protection; left to her own devices, she had given herself up to Vamdemon in a well-meaning but doomed effort to save Odaiba.

But to the Numemon, this made her something like a saint, a righteous queen, or even a goddess – and it certainly helped that she could emit light of her own. They would follow their Hikari-sama anywhere – even to the gates of Gecko Castle.

Even to war with another chosen child.

Ultimately, none of the others would join Hikari in her quest. Koushirou had read enough about statecraft to understand why he _should_ do so, and how failing to enforce even one judgment could lead to chaos throughout the digital world. He had echoed her every argument, at least on an intellectual level. But when push came to shove, not only could Koushirou not rope in others to fight the girl he had guided out of Kentarumon's labyrinth, he couldn't even convince himself. Even Hikari's pleas to her older brother fell on deaf ears; he understood the wisdom of her words, but wasn't about to fight Mimi if he had any choice in the matter.

"I'm sorry, Hikari-chan."

All the other humans had said it to her, one by one. But Hikari had Angewomon and an army of Numemon marching with her; she wouldn't have to fight alone.

* * *

The last time Tachikawa Mimi had set foot in Gecko Castle, she had been motivated by selfishness and frustration. She had no hope of returning to her world, so she sought only a chance to live a life of luxury – like a little girl who wanted to be a princess. And the digimon she called subjects were only a means to that end.

Now, Mimi understood what a princess really was – not just a girl who wore pretty dresses and lived in a castle, but a girl who had to sacrifice everything else in her life to protect her subjects from harm. A girl who worked non-stop directing Geckomon and Otamamon to guard the ramparts and barricade the sewers and writing letters to every digimon she knew in the hope she could persuade them to fight on her side.

The luxuries weren't of all that much interest to Mimi anymore. She felt weird even asking the Otamamon to prepare meals for her, although though she knew full well they'd never allow their princess to cook her own food like a peasant. But she knew now why monarchs lived so well: it was payment for one of the worst jobs in the digital world.

The Geckomon and Otamamon were probably Mimi's closest friends in this world – after Palmon, of course. They had given her so much in her first reign as princess, and now was her chance to pay them back. Besides, she knew all too well how frustrating it could be to deal with Numemon – sure, they could be brave or kindhearted from time to time, but they spent most of their days as poop-throwing pranksters, and she naturally sympathized with any digimon forced to share their home with them.

Princess Mimi was going to do everything she could to protect the Geckomon and Otamamon and preserve the sanctity of their castle, no matter who tried to stop her.

* * *

On a cloudy night, a single light appeared in the distance of Gecko Castle. The Geckomon on watch blinked and rubbed his eyes as the light approached – clearly, the light was real, but what did it mean? Surely the Chosen Children would be louder and more numerous.

At first, he thought nothing of it; if he awakened the castle every time something unusual happened in the digital world no one would ever get any sleep. Only when an equally luminous arrow zoomed over the barricades – one fired from a position about twenty feet above the pillar of light he had spotted earlier – did that Geckomon honk the castle's grand horn.

Tonosama Geckomon – now reduced to the status of vassal, in fact as well as in name – awoke from his bed beneath the horn. Between the noise from the horn itself and the giant frog's Kobushi Tone, the whole castle rallied from its stupor, each of the musical frog digimon living there adding to the alarm with instruments of their own.

Not, of course, that any of this was necessary; Angewomon had fired a warning shot. Hikari had considered storming the castle by surprise – her Numemon's own weakness to sunlight made a night attack inevitable – but she still hoped for a show of force and a surrender without shedding the blood of a single digimon.

The problem was that she had not brought nearly enough force to convince Mimi to back down. Most of the Numemon she sought to free were barricaded in the sewers beneath the castle, and only a small and furious diplomatic delegation came with her. They had recruited a few fellow Numemon from friends and family who had wound up in other parts of the digital world, but remained very much outnumbered by the fortress's defenders.

And to make matters worse, Numemon weren't exactly legendary warriors.

Much of Hikari's army visibly flinched when they saw Tonosama Geckomon, Meramon, and Yukidarumon march out; Mimi wasn't even going to bother hiding behind the castle's outer defenses. A few began to flee when Ogremon and the remnants of his army emerged, but a simple word of "Numemon" from Hikari compelled them to switch directions and regroup with the rest of her invasion force.

"So that's it? I thought at least a couple of the other chosen children would come with you! Ohohohoho!" a laughing Mimi shouted; if nothing else, her time in the castle had taught her to _taunt_ like a princess. "Why don't you give up and go home?"

"These Numemon have no home to return to," Hikari said sadly. "And your rebellion is to blame. Do the right thing. You weren't made a Chosen Child so you could seal innocent digimon underground."

"These Geckomon are my subjects," a determined Mimi responded, "and I'll do what it takes to preserve the purity of this beautiful castle! I won't let your slimy Numemon defile it – there's a reason your digimon is the only one fighting for them! Palmon!"

"Palmon, shinka, Togemon! Togemon, chou shinka, Lilymon!" A small plant grew into an enormous cactus, then shed its skin, leaving a fairy only a few inches taller than Mimi to emerge from the discarded massive spiky cocoon.

"I may be fighting for the Numemon," an offended Angewomon retorted, "but it's not because of my partner's orders. A spoiled brat like you could never know how much some digimon suffer. Saint Air!" Angewomon raised her arms, and a ring of multicolored light enveloped the battlefield, removing the numerical disadvantage of Hikari's forces by freezing most of her enemies in place.

"I don't want to fight you, Angewomon, but I'm not gonna back down. Flower Necklace!" Lilymon tossed a garland of flowers around the angel digimon's wing, seeking to purify her former comrade and show her the error of her ways; instead, the wreath was incinerated in a burst of divine light.

Mimi watched from the ground with equal parts determination and horror; she hadn't asked her subjects to start fighting, and she was no longer certain that they would win. The Numemon swarms moved quicker than her half-frozen army and had begun to envelop Tonosama Geckomon, and a loud cry of "Kobushi Tone" was not matched by an equal blast from the old lord's slime-clogged horns. Ogremon's constant efforts to pry the Numemon off with his club had only covered it in slime, and while Meramon and Yukidarumon held their own for the moment, Mimi doubted that they alone could win the battle. More ominously, another wave of Numemon rested beneath the castle, and Mimi wasn't sure how long her Geckomon could hold them indoors.

And to make matters worse, Lilymon was in trouble. Angewomon's Holy Arrow had pierced the green projectile shot from her Flow Cannon, along with one of her green, leafy wings. Mimi ran to catch her partner as she fell from the sky, while Hikari, without an ounce of sympathy, cheered Angewomon on.

"Nice shot!"

But if Angewomon was to be firing arrows, she couldn't possibly also maintain Saint Air. The paralyzing light which held so many Geckomon and Otamamon in place faded, and with it the hopes and dreams of the Numemon exiles; no digimon could possibly win a battle by swarming when outnumbered 3 to 1. Their volleys of pink feces were more than matched by their foes' sound waves, and Hikari plugged her ears in pain as piles of Numemon were jostled loose from Tonosama Geckomon's mighty horns.

"Kobushi Tone!"

Ultimately, the Numemon were too weak, and Angewomon could not win this battle alone.

A wounded Lilymon rose slowly back to her feet, helped up by her partner. And then she followed up Tonosama Geckomon's earth-shattering soundwaves by launching one last "Flow Cannon!" into Angewomon's wings. The angel of light fell into Hikari's arms as she shrunk and changed shape, landing as a mere Nyaromon in her partner's arms.

And Hikari, faced with defeat, began to cry. "They're trapped in there. Those Numemon did nothing to deserve this. We've lost this fight, but please, let them go!"

Mimi twirled a strand of hair, and waited for a few minutes, relishing her victory on the battlefield. Hikari had started this fight, and she wanted to rub in her face (and those of her followers) just how badly they had lost. "I'll think about it."

In truth, her mind had long been made up, and her 'thinking' was simply an elaborate taunt; a true queen must always be prepared to follow up a victory with a magnanimous peace. Those Numemon were a _threat_ ; should they ever break down the barricades, they would soil her home once more, and a good chunk of her army would always be stuck guarding them whenever anyone else invaded.

"I'll trust you to lead them out, Hikari-chan. But they shall never return to this castle again!"

Mimi opened the castle sewers, and Hikari entered them in order to gently coax out each and every Numemon inside. Some of the Numemon were reincarnated veterans of the fight against Mugendramon, while others had heard of her only through legends, doubted that she was even real, and had to be mightily persuaded to leave a home to which they would never return.

And finally, under cover of darkness, a nation's worth of Numemon slithered into exile, guided by the bearer of light.

* * *

Takaishi Takeru woke up early the next morning and checked his e-mail for disputes between digimon. After Mimi's defection, cases had begun to pile up, while most of his older comrades had lost all confidence in their own judgment.

"Are you sure about doing this alone, Takeru?" Patamon had asked him on his way out.

"I'm not sure that the older kids will help out with this even if I wake them up. And besides, the digital world's a big place, I'm sure we need to split up sometimes," a thoughtful Takeru remarked.

"You're right. Besides, I can't wait to play with Elecmon again!" an excited Patamon said, then evolved into Angemon, lifted his partner, and flew upon six white wings across File Island until the two of them arrived at the Village of Beginnings.

Elecmon did not greet them in a playful mood; he was too busy racing from cradle to cradle while trying to cover his large, floppy ears. The baby digimon were crying – and perhaps they always did, but the Kuwagamon and Snimon buzzing and sparring overhead seemed to distress them all the more.

And neither of them seemed to even notice Angemon's arrival.

"Stop fighting!" Takeru shouted, but failed to catch either digimon's attention; the buzzing of their wings and the clang of Snimon's blades against Kuwagamon's exoskeleton was much louder than any human voice could possibly shout.

"Heaven's Knuckle!" Angemon didn't fire his attack at either of the warring digimon, but high into the air, hoping that if nothing else the bright light would get the battling bugs' attention.

"So you've come to challenge me?" Kuwagamon asked, flying over to the angel as he bared his row of teeth. "I was getting tired of this Snimon!"

"No, he's clearly come to challenge me! I'm the strongest bug in this sector!" the red bug's green rival retorted, and Takeru shook his head.

"I don't want to fight you. But don't you see that this fight is making it impossible for the baby digimon on the ground to sleep? If you have to fight, do it somewhere uninhabited!"

"If they want us to stop, maybe they should do something about it!" Kuwagamon taunted.

"Don't you know that I'm one of the chosen children?" Takeru pleaded. "I don't want to do this."

"Whatever. I'll just find another chosen child to take my side. We don't need to listen to you anymore!" Snimon mocked him.

"Angemon, don't go overboard. Just show them what you can do." Takeru turned to his partner, while the symbol of hope once inscribed on his crest glowed within his heart.

"Angemon, chou shinka! Holy Angemon!" Six wings became eight, a featureless helmet grew larger, pointed, and papal, and a golden rod became a purple sword.

Snimon flew towards Takeru's digimon, using its arm-blades to slash at Holy Angemon's wings with a "Shadow Sickle!"

"Excalibur!" Holy Angemon easily parried the blow, and the force of his sword sent Snimon plummeting to the ground below; Elecmon raced over to clear two baby digimon and their cradles away from his landing spot.

"Scissor Arms!" Kuwagamon saw his rival's fall as nothing more than an opportunity to attack his new enemy from behind – and he scored a direct hit, tearing through Holy Angemon's lower set of back wings. The archangel digimon turned and slashed at Kuwagamon again, but his sword deflected harmlessly off its thick exoskeleton.

"Heaven's Gate!" Holy Angemon flew a few yards back and began to sweep his blade in a circle, but his partner shook his head.

"No! It's too dangerous to do that here! Retreat!" Takeru ordered, and Holy Angemon, noting the many baby digimon on the ground whom the vortex could potentially absorb, sadly but understandingly complied.

Defeated by the prospect of collateral damage and uninterested in killing even their foes, Takeru apologized to Elecmon, and Holy Angemon carried him to his back to the digital world's increasingly nominal capitol.

* * *

The morning after Hikari returned, Kidou Jou slipped and almost fell on a Numemon on his way out of his bedroom. Gomamon jumped to his partner's defense, but the Numemon in question sheepishly apologized and crawled away.

The capitol seemed a lot more crowded now, and Numemon had a habit of popping up at the most annoying times; Sora had seen one jump out of the sink when she tried to brush her teeth, while Koushirou, in between reports of the chosen children's hegemony over the digital world falling apart, was distracted by a pair of stalk eyes staring at him unnervingly from right behind his laptop.

And none of the Numemon seemed at all familiar with the chosen children – perhaps they knew them as legends, but certainly not as _people_. These clearly weren't the ambassadors that had been staying in the capitol since the Geckomon case.

A lot more Numemon had arrived overnight, and the culprit was obvious. The question was what to do about it.

Sora tried the direct route first. "Hikari-chan, we can't just keep all the Numemon in the capitol. There just isn't enough room around here," she protested gently.

"Then help them take back the sewers," Hikari retorted, and walked away.

"So asking nicely didn't work," Yamato said sympathetically. "And it's not like she's wrong. We brought this on ourselves."

"But maybe Mimi-kun was right about that case," a pensive Jou suggested. "I wouldn't want to live with a bunch of Numemon any more than the Geckomon do."

"I tried asking Taichi about it, but no luck," Takeru said sadly. "He's saying the same thing you are, oniichan."

"So if we want to do something about it, we'll have to do it ourselves," Koushirou began, pulling up his laptop to show a diagram of the palace and the ground beneath. "We've been rebuilding a lot over the past few months, and a new sewer system might be able to solve the problem, if we can mobilize enough digimon to construct one."

"What do you mean if, Koushirou-kun?" Sora asked, and Koushirou turned to the others with a horrified glance, as he opened his e-mail to show the others a series of desperate headlines.

"Well, ever since Mimi's rebellion, our control over the digital world has started to fall apart. Digimon we made judgments against flocked to join up with her, and others have started rebellions of their own. I'm not sure how much longer this will really be a planetary capitol, or how many digimon are going to listen to anything we say."

As he saw the eyes of his comrades open up one by one with a mix of horror and sadness, he began to scold them.

"Haven't any of you been keeping up with the reports? Bad enough that Taichi-san can't seem to make any decisions. We have much bigger problems than an excess Numemon population on our hands!"

* * *

In truth, Koushirou, Hikari, and Takeru were the only chosen children who had aggressively kept up with news of the digital world.

Taichi had lost all confidence in his ability to lead, and relied on the direct reports of the other chosen children and local digimon to advise him; he had half a mind to officially step down. In better times, this would have left Yamato to challenge him on his lack of leadership and try to claim his mantle, but the Ogremon fight had shaken him up just as badly; he was also paralyzed with doubt as to whether he was really doing the right thing. Sora's natural inclination was to play peacemaker, and in retrospect she should have been trying to do so among the digimon, but it was all she could do to keep the Chosen Children from one another's throats; the news of the battle between Hikari and Mimi filled her with sorrow.

Takeru, accustomed to following the older children, had been surprised to find out how little they were doing. He had tried to shoulder the burden alone, fighting as hard as he could, but Snimon and Kuwagamon were far from unique in defying him.

Jou _did_ have an idea of what to do, but he didn't want to do it. Fighting was bad, and fighting his closest friends and comrades was worse. But someone had to restore order, or the digital world would fall even deeper into chaos, and Taichi simply didn't seem up to the task.

With any luck, he'd be able to do it without a fight. And if push came to shove, he'd just have to hope that the others agreed with him, and that War Greymon wouldn't be able to preserve Taichi's leadership on his own.

* * *

All things considered, it was about as well-planned a coup as could be expected from a 12-year-old boy with no particular interest in either history or military tactics. The front door and the audience hall had been barred – but when Zudomon was the only digimon of the group without wings and when the capitol had a hundred windows, this was no obstacle to anyone.

Had Taichi still possessed the self-confidence and determination of a leader, the coup would have collapsed within minutes. Instead, he sat hesitantly in his room, while his five remaining human followers and their digimon rallied around him, asking for ideas.

"Maybe Jou's right. I haven't exactly been doing much leading; it's time to give someone else a chance."

In another time, Taichi would have looked to Yamato for answers, who would have risen to the task with some speech as infuriating as it was motivating, followed by a punch to the face and Taichi admitting he was wrong. But this time, all he could offer was "Maybe it's time to go home."

"Not like this," Takeru cried. "I don't know if we belong in this world anymore either, but this is just the worst way for our adventure to end! We can't let it end with the world falling into chaos!"

"Can we even prevent that? Maybe the digimon just don't need us anymore," Sora speculated, and Piyomon pecked the ground and nuzzled her partner's ankles sadly.

"The digital world didn't seem orderly when we first arrived here," Koushirou noted. "Maybe our purpose wasn't to restore order, but simply to drive out the powers of darkness."

As the other children deliberated without end, Yagami Hikari enveloped herself in light and walked away.

The Numemon came with her, but they were not alone. Digimon from the surrounding areas – mostly child-level, but a massive array of species among them – surrounded the capitol and burst through the door, chanting "Long live Hikari-sama" and "Death to the Traitor!" Angewomon flew above them, carrying the girl who half the digital world had accepted as something between a goddess and a queen; after all, she needed a properly angelic throne.

"Hammer Spark!" Jou hadn't said a word to Zudomon, but the walrus digimon was infuriated by the crowd calling for his partner's head, and brought his mighty hammer down upon the audience hall's ground, tearing the floor in two and knocking over many a protesting digimon.

But the digimon swarmed in faster than he could swing his hammer, and Angewomon's holy arrows kept peppering his shell. Jou had no hope of victory, short of a miracle, and the digimon who had brought about the _last_ miraculous evolution was fighting on the other side.

Besides, how could he rule a world full of digimon who wanted him dead?

The child of honesty raised his hands above his head and shouted "I surrender!" and the child of light ordered her army to stand down – which they did, while chanting the name of "Hikari-sama!"

Kidou Jou left the capitol after his coup attempt, without saying a word to the comrades who had fought beside him to save the digital world; he couldn't bring himself to face them anymore.

When the next request for help arrived at the capitol in File Island, it was addressed not to the Chosen Children as a group, but to Hikari-sama alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Failure.

Kidou Jou had tried mightily to give the digital world a government it could rely on – with seemingly no one else taking their responsibility as world rulers seriously. Instead, he had been chased out of his capitol by an angry mob of the very digimon he was supposed to protect, all of them calling for his head.

Admittedly, Hikari had instructed them _not_ to take his head, and clearly Jou had underestimated her ability to rule on account of her young age; that mob of loyalist digimon had to come from somewhere. Staying and serving her loyally might have been the right thing to do, but the digimon around the palace clearly didn't like him, and after his coup had failed, Jou didn't know how to face Hikari again – or the rest of his friends, for that matter. And he was stuck in a world which no longer seemed to offer him any purpose.

The only thing left for him was to sail into exile.

Jou had already found himself once by wandering the digital world; perhaps he could do it again. But as the days sailing into emptiness grew longer and longer, his hopes only continued to dim. The Net Ocean was a vast, featureless expanse, and he had half a mind to sail back to File Island – except that he had traveled so far that File Island was no longer the closest portion of dry land.

At least Ikkakumon seemed happy. Not that any of his jokes had quite managed to cheer up Jou, but at least his digimon partner's impromptu attempts at starting various word games – which always neglected the ostensible rules and devolved into comedy sessions – filled the days at sea.

Until one day, a pod of Hangyomon – with a Coelamon and Shellmon mixed into the bunch, each digimon in the pod clad in a dazzling array of jewels and gems – hurled two harpoons which soared through the air above the two of them; probably a warning shot.

"Do we surrender? It looks like there are more than we can take," Jou asked his partner.

"Technically Hangyomon are Perfect digimon, but they're small. If I evolve, I don't think they can pierce my armor," Ikkakumon answered. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Ikkakumon, chou shinka! Zudomon!" A walrus grew a shell, white became grey and orange, and Mjolnir itself materialized into his suddenly bulky arms.

"Wait!" The cry came from the Hangyomon across the waves, who paddled swiftly towards Zudomon and his rider, with their hands raised up in a sign of peace. "We don't want to fight you!"

"Weren't you part of MetalSeadramon's army? Shouldn't I be your enemy?" a puzzled Jou asked.

"We were, but it's not like we had much choice. Against a digimon like that you join up or you die, but we Hangyomon far prefer to live and fight on our own."

"And do plenty of fighting on your own, I imagine," an angry Zudomon answered, hammer held menacingly aloft high into the air. "Plenty of looting and raiding too; where I'm from, we call that piracy. Or do you think I haven't noticed where all that money came from?"

The Hangyomon carrying the most gems shrugged; he seemed to be the leader of the group. "Pirates, bandits, rebels. We've been called worse. But we need your help."

"So you admit you're pirates, and you want our help. Why on Earth would we agree to that?" an exasperated Jou asked. "I'm a Chosen Child! I don't think I was chosen to rob some other poor defenseless digimon!"

"What about to free them?" The Shellmon in the back meekly spoke up. "I don't doubt that Hikari-sama's heart is in the right place, but she doesn't know what the governors she appoints do across the Net Ocean. The MarineAngemon who rules USB Town may look like a kindhearted digimon, but the truth is that he's a zealot who killed almost as many of his own subjects as MetalSeadramon."

Then Coelamon spoke up – a digimon whose presence in the pod had initially puzzled Jou, as he had never fought the Chosen Children. Jou had at first assumed the white fish to be a prisoner, and only now begun to notice that no one seemed to be paying it any particular attention or feared that it would swim away. "But the victims were Virus types, and most of them collaborated with the Dark Masters. At least at first. The Hangyomon and Shellmon have been seizing every ship they could take that sails out of the city and using the proceeds to fund their resistance, but most digimon believed MarineAngemon when he said they were traitors. Then the purges got wider and wider, and started to hit Data-type digimon and anyone who spoke up against him. A lot of us got out, but the Penmon and Pukamon who live in USB Town can't flee and aren't as adept at swimming. And there are so many digimon still trapped inside, wondering if they'll be next."

"Please help us, Jou," another Hangyomon said. "Because if you don't, I don't know who will."

"Well then, it's decided," Jou and Zudomon said in unison. "We're gonna free USB Town!"

* * *

The seas were calm around the port city of USB Town, but the old bustle of the city was gone; menacing lighthouses-turned-guard towers flanked the harbor, while few digimon walked, crawled, or flopped through the streets under MarineAngemon's watchful eye.

The digimon in USB Town had learned to hide from others; it was harder to be targeted when one couldn't even be seen. And as such, MarineAngemon thought nothing of their absence, and all his Rukamon and Tylomon enforcers swam across town through the Cable River to confront Jou and Zudomon's armada.

MarineAngemon soon proved to be a deceptively strong foe in battle. Although he was the size of a Child digimon, and looked small enough for Zudomon's hammer to simply squash like a bug, he had used his Ocean Love attack to encase him in a sphere of pink light: a barrier which neither that hammer nor Hangyomon's harpoons could penetrate.

"Maybe we should retreat. I don't know how we can win this, he's attacking at will," a worried Jou pondered, but did not order, as a pair of Rukamon rammed into Zudomon's side.

"Don't worry. Our compatriots in the city have something planned," Coelamon said with a grin. "Just hold out a little while longer, this commotion should be visible from quite a distance."

And so for a few more minutes, Jou's armada fought on and on, sparing no effort to dodge and block enemy attack's and extend the combat for as long as possible. In time, a pod of aquatic digimon – most of them tiny Pukamon, their leader a courageous Syakomon who had only now emerged from hiding – at last arrived at the docks to spew an array of clear bubbles MarineAngemon's way. As the bubbles connected with MarineAngemon's sphere, the barrier around USB Town's ruler slowly began to vanish.

"Now! Zudomon!" Jou shouted, pointing at their distracted foe – an Ultimate, despite its small size, whose defenses were being penetrated by the lowest levels of digimon.

"Hammer Boomerang!" A mighty hammer spiraled through the air, including the vaguely pinkish cloud which had until recently been a solid orb of light, and bashed in the brains of a small fairy half its size. As MarineAngemon disintegrated into data and his minions fled, cheering crowds emerged from the homes they had shut themselves up in to line the streets and canals of USB Town.

"All hail Jou, our savior! All hail the Reliable King!"

Kidou Jou hadn't come to USB Town to rule it, only to rescue the digimon inside. But if he was still in this world for a reason, perhaps it was to use the crown its inhabitants had given him.

"A throne sounds nice, doesn't it, Jou?" Gomamon said. "Though next time you see Mimi you better apologize for bugging her so much about the princess thing."

Jou had entered the halls from where MarineAngemon had once reigned and squeezed into the tiny chair the city had once dedicated to its tyrant. "It doesn't exactly fit well, but I guess we can't all rule castles, huh."

"Maybe we need to set up a trade deal with Gecko Castle," Gomamon joked, but Jou did not laugh; instead, he listened, and pondered his advice, and wondered if he really should do so.

What did USB Town need from its leaders anyway?

* * *

Izumi Koushirou's primary interest had always been computers, and he read far more back on Earth about science and technology than he did about history and politics. But he had played his share of strategy games with historical settings, and his questions about their background led him to want to know more and more; by the time he completed his first game of _Civilization 2_ , he had already read a book or two on each civilization contained therein. And in the process, Koushirou had developed a more sophisticated grasp of statecraft than most of the adults he knew.

Once they had come to rule the digital world, Koushirou had tried to use this knowledge to advise his friends and comrades on how to preserve the peace of the world they had saved. But Taichi had seldom listened to him, and Hikari was if anything even more inclined to dismiss his advice with a wave and a line he had heard far too many times: "Perhaps that works in the human world, but the digital world is different."

And with each suggestion rejected, Koushirou grew more and more frustrated; there was no use in being vizier without the ear of the reigning monarch. So with nothing left to do and severe doubts about the meaning of his role, Izumi Koushirou departed to search for a way home. For Vamdemon's Castle had been ruined on their way out and reconfigured after Apocalymon's death, but somewhere in the vast Digital World surely stood its old Digital Gate which had once brought them all back to Earth.

Koushirou didn't intend to switch sides, betray Hikari, form his own faction, or anything of that sort – but a wandering Chosen Child naturally became a magnet for dissatisfied digimon, and the Child of Knowledge in particular was seen as an alternative source of justice for those who would not accept Hikari's rule; they felt he knew the right answer, if only the Queen of Light would listen.

And in time, as word of his wise judgments spread, Andromon, after days of searching, tracked down Izumi Koushirou and invited him to run Factorial Town, then in the midst of a month-long siege from Hikari's digimon army.

It was not an offer he accepted lightly, for taking it would mean betraying many of his closest friends. But Andromon had also fought beside them against the Dark Masters – and more importantly, the significant technological and industrial resources contained within Factorial Town would aid him immensely in his search for the Digital Gate. And maybe, once he brought everyone home, all their grudges born of power struggles would disappear and the Chosen Children would be friends once again.

Even Mimi. Even Jou.

Koushirou entered Factorial Town from the air, but not easily; projectile attacks from Airdramon, Flymon, and a host of digimon on the ground which he couldn't identify bombarded AtlurKabuterimon's thick exoskeleton.

"How'd you get out?" Koushirou turned to Andromon to ask, as a group of Guardromon fired a volley of Destruction Grenades from the city center, which offered the three a modicum of cover fire.

"They hadn't acquired air supremacy yet, but Gigadramon and Megadramon must've been finally shot down," Andromon answered. "Judging by these attacks, we're in serious trouble."

"Thank goodness Angewomon isn't here..." Koushirou noted, as AtlurKabuterimon landed within the city walls and devolved into Motimon, and Koushirou and Andromon scrambled for cover. "If Hikari was leading this in person we'd be goners."

Hikari, however, was facing rebellions around the digital world; her hard-fought efforts to retain its unity did not permit her to be everywhere at once. The army of the Chosen Children – or perhaps, by this point, simply the army of the Eighth Child – was more than big enough to storm Factorial Town alone. But if she gathered enough of her digimon army to do so, she would lose far more digimon citizens from the lands she abandoned than any conquest could gain her.

So Factorial Town was surrounded by a siege force only slightly larger than its own garrison, but one reinforced from time to time from the outside, and one standing between the robotic digimon of the town and its primary fuel supply.

It would be Koushirou's first task to change that, for if he failed, everything else he wanted to do inside would be lost. But it was not an especially difficult one for him; he had studied the programming language which runs the digital world at length, and there was plenty to modify already written on Factorial Town's metal walls. So for Koushirou, it was a simple matter of writing a word here and a function there to transform the meaningless perpetual motion of the town's central factory into one which could fuel all of the city's digimon.

Once the Child of Knowledge completed that immense and deceptively simple program, the siege could last for many years for all it could accomplish; Factorial Town could never be starved out.

But it could still be bombarded.

Building a dome atop the city was a much harder matter, but Factorial's defenders had been newly reinvigorated by this victory, adequate fuel rations did wonders for their physical recovery, and Koushirou's arrival skyrocketed their morale.

In time, Gigadramon and Megadramon recovered to fight beside AtlurKabuterimon, and day by day, the city's strongest robotic digimon, guarded by the bulk of its remaining army, encased Factorial Town in DigiGlass too sturdy for Hikari's soldiers to break.

And now that Koushirou had saved the city, it was time for him to use everything in its libraries and computer logs to research a way home.

* * *

"C'mon, Sora! We've got to help the Pyocomon!"

Sora mulled over the letter addressed to her, ignoring the pink bird digimon tugging on her leg. The Pyocomon village had been their friends, had fed and sheltered them early in their journey, and yet…

"It's not quite that easy. Piyomon. Hikari's made her decision, and I couldn't persuade her to change it. They'll just have to relocate or get water from elsewhere; I guess she thinks her soldiers need Mount Panorama's water more than the Pyocomon do."

"But can't you do anything about it? Don't you have a choice? Hikari's just one chosen child – they asked _you_ , didn't they?!" Sora nervously scanned the room for spies as she heard Piyomon's plea; what her digimon was demanding was virtually treason. And yet there was a time, not too long ago, when the eight chosen children – all eight of them – had answered requests from digimon to mediate their disputes.

What gave Hikari any more right to rule than Mimi, Jou, or Koushirou? The support of the digimon? She was a kind child, but the digital world was too big a place for her best intentions to guarantee everyone's happiness. Worse, the power of an empress had begun to change her old friend, who was slowly turning from a saint into something of a zealot; it seemed these days that more digimon fought to overthrow her than to preserve her reign.

"You're right, Piyomon. I can and I will," Sora said, and strode boldly out of a palace she had long called home, and bid a silent goodbye to the many comrades she had fought beside and loved.

She did not have to go far.

Mount Panorama was not all that far from the stronghold where Sora had lived for so long; although it was Infinity Mountain that dominated File Island's skyline, Panorama's peak was visible on the horizon on many a clear day.

"I could evolve into Birdramon and fly you there."

"It's probably wiser to go by land. Besides, I could use the fresh air," Sora said, and hiked across a small desert which had once, before roads and digimon to guide them, seemed like it would never end. The Pyocomon village, once in the open air, had migrated into the washed-up boat where they had once taken shelter from Meramon's attacks. And Meramon himself had joined them, although he stood shyly in the background while the Pyocomon a fraction of his height bounced as they greeted an old friend and her human partner.

"Thanks for coming!"

"I don't know where we'd be without you!"

"We need your help! This boat only has enough water to last another week!"

"Slow down a minute. What do you want us to do?" Sora asked.

One of the Pyocomon, slightly bigger than the others – Piyomon identified her as the village headman, while Sora marveled at her ability to tell any of them apart – bounced slowly forward to answer her, as the others cleared the way. "Well, you can make Piyomon evolve to the Perfect level now, right? Garudamon can protect us now, just like Birdramon did when Meramon attacked!"

"Sorry," Meramon muttered sheepishly. "I tried fighting myself – I owe them – but Angewomon was just too strong for me to take down alone."

"Angewomon? Oh no, you can't mean… Hikari-chan? You want me to fight Hikari-chan?" a mortified Sora asked, turning her head slowly from one digimon to another. "She's my precious comrade. It's bad enough that so many of us are fighting already..."

"No," Piyomon said firmly, in agreement with the Pyocomon chief. "I want you to protect this village from her."

* * *

Later that day, as the sun began to set, Angewomon's bright light illuminated the sky – and Garudamon fired a "Shadow Wing!" high into the air to announce her presence and resistance.

"Are you betraying me too, Sora-san? The Army of the Digital World needs the water from Panorama Springs," Hikari asked sadly.

"But so do the Pyocomon. You may not know this, Hikari-chan, but before you joined us, these digimon granted the Chosen Children hospitality when we had crossed the desert and were starving in the digital world. You owe it to them to leave Mount Panorama in peace."

It was something of an exaggeration; their food had been birdseed which she had personally refrained from eating, their shelter far too small to fit a single human being. But Garudamon was more than a match for Angewomon, and the other digimon soldiers Hikari had brought with her were murmuring dissent at the prospect of fighting another Chosen Child and a group of Pyocomon who hardly seemed in the wrong; perhaps all Hikari really needed was an excuse to avoid this battle.

"I am sorry. Protect the Pyocomon, and remain on their mountain as its governor," Hikari said, and did her best to hide her disappointment as she ordered a swift retreat.

In truth, Sora's appointment was simply a diplomatic way to disguise a surrender; she may have been 'governor' of Panorama, but she was not the kind of governor who offered tribute to the metropole or digimon to fight on her behalf – or the kind of governor who could be sacked should Hikari grow dissatisfied.

At least her pacifist instincts made her poorly suited to the role of a true rebel - better she hold Panorama than a hothead like Meramon – but the digimon striving desperately to keep the world unified would need to find a new source of sustenance, and Mount Panorama and its nearby Pyocomon village was far and away the closest territory yet to slip from Hikari's grasp.

Try though she might to avert it, the Digital World was falling apart.

* * *

"This is sacrilege, Hikari-chan. You can't do this," a horrified Takeru – one of a mere three chosen children still taking orders from her – said. "It's Infinity Mountain. Devimon's old home."

"But this place is way too close to rebel lands, and we need a lookout now with Panorama gone anyway," Hikari responded. "I know Elecmon and the others don't want to relocate, but don't worry; I've found a nice, safe meadow in Amida Forest."

"They won't go."

"Then I'll have to make them. Don't try to stop me, Takeru-kun."

"I'm sorry, Hikari-chan."

A rumor swept like wildfire around File Island, from the ears of one disillusioned digimon turned rebel to another – a rumor which Takeru had tried to warn his best friend of, but in vain. Yagami Hikari, the mad god-empress, the Queen of the Numemon, had sold her soul to the powers of darkness. She intended to become a new Devimon, watching all on File Island from her new lair atop Infinity Mountain, and crushing all other digimon underfoot.

Worse, Digimon who died resisting her would never be reborn if she won – for she planned to abduct the Village of Beginnings and relocate it into the heart of her shrinking kingdom, where she would force Elecmon to only rub the eggs of her loyal fighters.

"She doesn't want that," Takeru said, inspecting the ranks of his new army. "She's not a monster. She's still a Chosen Child."

"Then why are you here?" Elecmon asked. "We _are_ preparing to fight her, you know."

"Because if I let her move into a palace on top of Infinity Mountain, not a single Digimon on File Island will believe in her ever again."

It was a somber occasion to watch HolyAngemon and Angewomon clash in the skies above Infinity Mountain, and the digimon armies beneath them – whether acting out of a residual sense of reverence or a simple lack of power – did their best to get out of the way.

Angel digimon were never meant to fight one another, which was ably demonstrated in their efforts to do so; Excalibur's purple blade blocked Angewomon's Holy Arrow, but HolyAngemon needn't have bothered, for the attacks he failed to parry deflected harmlessly off his wings. The case with HolyAngemon's Heaven's Gate was little different: it had been placed high in the air, too high to harm a single innocent digimon, but made no effort to absorb a digimon it regarded as being every bit as holy as its creator.

Slowly, as the angels of hope and light battled endlessly in midair, the digimon watching on the slopes of Infinity Mountain began to contemplate the meaning of their conflict. In another time, perhaps, there would have been nothing to question: Hikari-sama was the Queen of Light, liberator of the Numemon, foremost among the Chosen Children.

But now digimon were telling other stories – she was the Blinded Queen, a ruler with a kind heart who did not know what was being done in her name. Or worse, she was a new Devimon, a savior who had gone mad with power – or perhaps one who had only defeated the Dark Masters because they stood in her way.

These whispers, much to Hikari's chagrin, did not spread only among the rebels. When Takeru had seen enough of this fruitless clash and the awe of those watching below had at last begun to fade, he ordered the protectors of the Village of Beginnings to finally charge. And when he did, a quarter of the digimon who had marched with Hikari switched sides, and another quarter fled.

Angewomon ignored her fellow angel to dive into the clashing mass of old foes and traitors on the slopes of the mountain below, and peppered the ground with arrows in a valiant attempt to turn the tide of a fight she had lost before it even began. But despite all her effort, the digimon swarm advanced; all she could do was slap them away with wings and arrows until she finally fought her way to Hikari and her Numemon guards.

And then, after blocking one last desperate Betamon's "Cutter Fin!" with her back wings, she picked up her partner – once the Queen of the Digital World – and whisked her away to her diminished, half-abandoned domain. The Numemon, and the few other digimon still loyal to her, followed her back home – but by now, she was just one monarch among many, human and digimon alike.

Infinity Mountain would remain desolate; Takeru would not crown himself its king, only the Protector of the Village of Beginnings. He would visit the mountain once more with Patamon – not for a coronation, but for a somber memorial service. He had come to mourn the victims of Devimon and the many digimon who rampaged under the command of his Black Gears, but the one victim whose loss hurt him the most was still on his shoulder, resurrected by the magic of the digital world. It was this magic he swore to Elecmon and the other digimon attending that he would preserve; the world could fall into chaos, but Takaishi Takeru would make sure that every digimon, friend or foe, could have another chance at life.

Even in this tumultuous period of the Digital World's history, the Village of Beginnings would be allowed to remain at peace.


	4. Chapter 4

From a strategic standpoint, it was the height of folly to dispatch an army across the Net Ocean while Hikari barely controlled half of File Island, but Yamato gladly accepted the order all the same, because he understood. Understood both that Hikari was no fonder than him of crushing "rebels" who had been her comrades against Apocalymon. And understood that, apart from Taichi, he was the last "loyal" Chosen Child.

Taichi, of course, was Hikari's older brother, and she trusted him with her life. But Yamato understood far too well that Hikari feared that at some point, he'd disagree with some decision of hers and use it as an excuse to join the others in rebellion and warlordism. It seemed to Yamato that this mission was nothing more than a ploy for him to set up the kingdom she feared he would inevitably create – but with a host of digimon soldiers who were either expendable or wavering in their loyalty, and somewhere far, far away from a location where he could pose any genuine threat.

And given that fact, it was a mission he would eagerly accept.

The Net Ocean had not been effectively charted since before the fall of Spiral Mountain, and while Hikari had given him a target – a domain on Server Continent, ruled by a Gazimon who had rallied Etemon's surviving minions – neither she nor anyone else could know what Yamato would encounter on the journey there. The long and hazardous journeys between and across the continents seemed more responsible than anything else for the digital world's fragmentation; Spiral Mountain was a twisted and monstrous idea, but at least it had made it possible for four Ultimates to rule the digital world!

He would never arrive there.

The island where Yamato wrecked his ship seemed less like a proper country than a maze of rocks and caves – but after helping a soggy-furred and grateful Gabumon out of the water, he ordered his fleet ashore all the same; it seemed remote and isolated enough for his purposes. After all, he wasn't the slightest bit eager to play the role of a conqueror. An empty domain was just as good as crushing Gazimon's would be, if not even better.

It would be days before he discovered his forces were not in fact alone, when a hairy furball of a digimon meekly peered out of the deepest reaches of one cave at the human and many digimon who had arrived, and uttered the word "Welcome."

"Mojyamon?" Yamato asked, wondering which puzzled him more: the fact that these islands were inhabited, or _which_ digimon in particular he had met. "What brings you all the way out here? It doesn't seem quite cold enough for you."

"You must be thinking of my cousin. But don't worry, he's told me all about you. Come out!" the Mojyamon shouted, and from different corners of the cave, a wide variety of digimon meekly walked, flew, and bounced into the open. "I know we don't want to get caught up in the Chosen Children's wars, but don't worry. This one is Yamato, we're among friends."

"Why do you trust me so much? I know I rescued your cousin, but Taichi was there too, right? Back in those days all of us were friends..." Yamato stumbled over the last word; certainly he had fought with them, but never like this. How had it all gone so wrong?

"Because we know why you're here – and it's the same reason that brought all of us to this strange island. If the rumors I've heard are true, I believe you've even created something like it in the past. Welcome to the Isles of Solitude!"

"Isles of Solitude, huh," Yamato muttered, peering around the vast maze of darkness. "It seems like a nice and peaceful place for us to make a new home."

And indeed it was, until a single Gomamon card washed up on its beaches.

* * *

Izumi Koushirou was certain that Factorial Town possessed enough energy to create a digital gate on Vamdemon's model, and was equally confident that his program was capable of opening one. Unfortunately, he did not possess the energy of eight digivices, powered by the wishes of eight united Chosen Children.

If he still did, he wouldn't even need to go home.

Nor, for that matter, was the barrier between worlds anywhere near collapsing of its own accord; the problems the world's digimon faced were of their own making, when not created by the Chosen Children themselves.

But there was another way to open the Gate – one Vamdemon had used when he tried to invade the Human World, and one Koushirou sought in order to leave the Digital World at peace. The problem was that this method required nine cards, all of which had been lost with the disappearance of Vamdemon's castle.

Koushirou had, at Tentomon's urging, all but given up on this method, until Andromon presented him with his own card – which he said he had found when cleaning his storage room. But only his card; the other eight were nowhere to be found. He briefly considered the possibility that each card was held by the digimon it depicted, but soon dismissed the idea. Back when Jou was a loyal comrade, he had never given any indication of finding a Gomamon card, and Leomon and Etemon were deceased. A brief missive to Kentarumon confirmed that Andromon finding the Andromon card was a mere coincidence; although Kentarumon had indeed heard of cards opening the digital gate, he had never seen a single one in his long and eventful life.

And so, for some time, Koushirou put the cards in the back of his mind as he researched other methods of returning home; even if the other eight still existed, they would still need to be found, and he didn't have any leads. Until, weeks later, a spy returned from the Village of Beginnings...

* * *

Uncharted and isolated, the aptly-named Isles of Solitude were shrouded not only in ever-shifting currents but in rumors. Many digimon doubted that they existed at all; they were a product of a grief-mad Takeru's imagination after his older brother's death in battle, or perhaps of digimon who believed in the legend of the Chosen Children too strongly to accept that one of them had gone home.

Thunderballmon had once shared this skepticism, but Takaishi Takeru – his ostensible commander – seemed quite sane every night that he ascended Infinity Mountain to open a communication link to his older brother, if extremely serious and worried beyond belief. And although he had never met Ishida Yamato, he had no cause to doubt that someone was answering Takeru's words.

Even the most isolated hermit kingdoms, on Earth as in the Digital World, kept a window open to the outside – and Takaishi Takeru played the role of Dejima for the Isles of Solitude.

Takeru, for his part, didn't know what to make of the card his older brother had mentioned to him; he had said simply to "hold onto it, maybe the other eight will wash up next." But Thunderballmon, after days of listening to personal and boring conversations, had at last learned just what Koushirou-sama needed.

* * *

Neither Kido Jou nor the armada of USB Town had any inkling of why Factorial Town had dispatched a fleet for the Isles of Solitude, except that one of the Hangyomon had heard a Guardromon mutter something about a precious treasure. But this information was reason enough for them to set sail.

Independence had not been kind to USB Town; MarineAngemon's reign of terror had destroyed much of the city, requiring significant quantities of money and items in order to rebuild. But the town's wealth had come from trade networks which depended on a unified digital world, and there weren't nearly enough Bits left in the city to try. Worse, further attacks from the Army of the Digital World to bring it to heel had led to increasingly desperate battles; not long after freeing the town, Jou found himself organizing the defense of a ruin.

Luckily, where one rebellion faltered, two more popped up, and the global situation eventually forced Hikari's army to retreat. But victory in their war of independence left USB Town with only one real source of income: a large number of powerful marine digimon. Kido Jou had first prepared for a confrontation with the resistance which would become his subjects, fearing them to be pirates – how ironic that he would be the one to lead them there! Jou had extremely reluctantly assented to turning his city-state into a pirate nation, because, as he saw it, it was the only way the digimon there could survive.

Factorial Town's fleet was new and untested, but they could surely lead his own force to the real prize.

* * *

Tachikawa Mimi did not want to return to the human world.

It was weird to think about, after all the months that she had complained and all the comforts of home she had missed. And one could certainly claim that having a castle to call home had done something to change her mind. But perhaps she just needed to avoid the aches of walking for hours every day, and a bed indoors to sleep at night; the Otamamon and Geckomon had given her that and more.

But, she told herself and everyone else who would listen, the castle wasn't why she was staying. She was staying because they still needed her. "Palmon, it's not time to go home just yet."

"What are you talking about, Mimi? This is our home."

Mimi thought back to the human friends she had been so glad to briefly see on Earth, and to her adoring family, and felt a vague and distant sadness. But if she was to go home for good, then she wouldn't be able to see Palmon anymore, or all the other friends she had made throughout the last three years in the digital world. Saying goodbye once was hard enough; she never wanted to do it again.

Besides, the digimon still needed her – and much as they had frustrated Gecko Castle, despite not being on speaking terms with some of them anymore, they needed the other Chosen Children too.

"You're right, Palmon. And I'm gonna make sure it stays that way!"

* * *

Ishida Yamato looked out at the waves, which seemed far larger than usual today – probably the largest he had seen since he established his home in the Isles of Solitude. Every now and then, the waves rose a little, and an aquatic digimon or a small fishing boat found its way to him and joined his little "kingdom."

This was different.

This wasn't one fleet. It was a whole armada, its boats ringed with Guardromon and Mechanorimon who had been expertly modified for aquatic movement. And high above them flew AtlurKabuterimon, carrying Koushirou in his hands.

A show of force. And, given that this place wasn't on the way to anywhere, there was no doubting that he was its target.

AtlurKabuterimon landed on the shore – without resistance, for now – and let off his partner. Koushirou walked over to him, speaking as friendly and politely as ever, as if they were still comrades and there was no armada to back up his words. "So I've heard you found Gomamon's card, Yamato-san?"

"What of it, Koushirou?" Yamato asked, already halfway to scoffing.

"May I please borrow it? If I locate the digital gate, then I believe we can find our way home."

 _Home_. Yamato couldn't deny the appeal of the thought – his father surely missed him terribly by now, and his mother had been hoping for a closer relationship with him after the Odaiba fog incident. Yet he was far more comfortable leading these islands in the middle of nowhere than he ever could be going back to school after all this.

And then there was another question. Could he actually trust Koushirou? There was a time when the thought of doubting any other Chosen Child would sicken him – but that was a time long before each of them, seemingly one by one, had turned traitor. Did Koushirou _really_ want the Gomamon card just so he could open the digital gate? And if he did, Yamato wondered whether or not to let him.

As he pondered his answer, another fleet appeared on the horizon – this one with ships painted pink, covered in flowers, and honking with the loud horns of Otamamon and Geckomon. "Yamato-san!" Mimi shouted from the ship's mast, speaking through a loud horn that seemed to be carved from one of TonosamaGeckomon's instruments. "We've come to protect you from Factorial Town!"

Yamato had not asked for any "protection." Indeed, he had yet to finish deciding whether or not to accept Koushirou's offer. Not that Mimi cared; she was the one who fired the first shot.

Caught between rocky islands and a hostile fleet, Koushirou turned his ships around, and a volley of "Destruction Grenades!" bombarded the forces of Gecko Castle. While Yamato himself was simply surprised by the development, an Insekimon from the island tried to help Mimi out with a "Falling Star!" and AtlurKabuterimon flew into action to block the meteor with his exoskeleton.

Yamato, after all, had never really commanded the digimon of the Isles of Solitude. They had not heard the soft-spoken Koushirou's request, but they did see the fleet on the horizon, and assumed (not without cause) it was intended to cow them into submission. When another group of digimon showed up to stop him, they simply believed in its leader's offer of protection – and her volume certainly helped in communicating that offer!

Yamato put up a hand to restrain the digimon, and MetalGarurumon barked orders to stay out of the fight – but he was no king. These were islands of free digimon, and they were willing to battle to preserve their isolation.

"Icicle Rod!" Mojyamon launched a spear of ice through the mast of Koushirou's own boat, leading the Tankmon crew to roll desperately into life rafts, and knocking a couple of them out of commission entirely.

"Flow Cannon!" And from the other direction, Lilymon launched a blast of green energy, ripping through yet another ship.

"Retreat!" Koushirou ordered, but it was easier said than done; Gecko Castle had been skirmishing with Factorial Town for some time, and having encircled her friend-turned-rival, Mimi would settle for nothing less than outright surrender. She would have received it, but yet another fleet waited beyond the horizon, its Hangyomon scouts watching beneath the waves – for if Jou wished to walk away with the treasure he sought, he could wait no longer before he intervened.

"Hammer Boomerang!" A chrome digizoid hammer spiraled a hundred meters through the air, connecting with the leafy back wings of a digimon half its weight; Lilymon was more than fast enough to dodge the attack, if only she had seen it.

"No! Tanemon!" Mimi cried, catching her partner as she devolved and fell from the air, then pointed her fleet back in Jou's direction. "They hit my partner! Stop them!"

"Crash Symphony!" A chaotic mass of sound waves rippled across the water, and the Hangyomon soon could no longer grasp which direction they were swimming in; one stabbed itself with its harpoon while trying in vain to plug its ears.

The battle continued for a while longer, but neither side could break the stalemate. Digimon fought on to exhaustion, but the many forces were evenly matched, if often confused about who their enemies were. Yamato, for his part, resolved not to hand over Gomamon's card to any of them; one card of nine couldn't send them home, and as long as they were stuck in the digital world he would not part with such a valuable bargaining chip without a truly worthwhile return.

From a rock in the distance, another boy looked on in awe.

* * *

"This game is so cool!"

It wasn't just the graphics which had enthralled the child – although to be fair, he had never seen anything quite so immersively 3-D. The battle he had watched had everything; numerous factions, colorful attacks, and most importantly a massive and diverse number of creatures he could only begin to name. He hoped he could learn the strategy behind it, and clearly the four older kids he had watched had chosen their tactics somehow, but it wasn't as though he could just sail over to the part of the sea where they had been fighting and ask them for a tutorial.

Nor did he have much to offer them in return; they had clearly been playing longer, and amassed much larger armies. The only monster beside him was a small, green worm – or perhaps a caterpillar – who didn't look particularly valuable in a fight.

From the type of units involved, he was clearly playing some sort of tactical RPG; the goal, as in all such games, was territorial conquest. But he had also been thrown in there – quite literally thrown, he had landed facefirst – with no manual, and he wasn't about to stop playing long enough to read one. Maybe the monster beside him, weak as it was, had some value as a guide.

"How do you take over this world?"

The worm seemed a bit taken aback by the statement, puzzling the boy, who wondered if his request had been worded poorly. The boy was glad the game had voice inputs, but perhaps his guide required specific phrasing or a help menu.

Wormmon, on the other hand, was wondering just what kind of child had become his partner to ask that question. Then again, given what was going on in the digital world these days, perhaps it was an entirely reasonable one; either way, it was his duty to help his Chosen Child in any way he could. "Judging by what's been going on lately around here, you drive Empress Hikari's army out of some domain, and claim it as your own. Then I guess you attack your neighbors."

As the boy nodded in understanding, the digimon reared up on his furthest back legs and extended his claw. The boy then dropped to his knees, and gave his new partner a handshake.

"By the way, my name's Wormmon, nice to meet you."

"I-I'm Ken. Ichijouji Ken."

"Welcome to the Digital World, Ken-chan!"

* * *

Truth be told, Hikari's army looked far larger than the modest force of Airdramon and Gizamon which had rallied to Ken's banner – and a good deal stronger, digimon for digimon, as well.

"Don't worry, Wormmon. I've played games like these before. The first battles are always either scripted losses or easier than they look," Ken said, trying to reassure him – though Wormmon looked to actually be the _least_ nervous of the group. Yet all the same, Ken felt compelled to console him, and him more than anyone else.

"So we'll be okay?" Wormmon asked.

Ken looked around his makeshift army with a heavy heart; if this _was_ a scripted loss, then surely a lot of these digimon would be killed off to motivate him, and they were his responsibility – after all, he was the one who had led them there. But it didn't _seem_ like this was how this game worked – the decaying empire was not an all-powerful force, and what kind of self-respecting archvillain was a girl his age who used light as her element?

"I think we'll be fine," Ken said, turning to face the digimon who had declared themselves his followers. "Some of her digimon may look strong, but Hikari's already lost control of half the digital world. – there's no way they're really that tough. I'm sure if you guys fight well, we can liberate the Great Canyon from her tyrannical reign!"

It wasn't much of a speech, for it came from a boy who wasn't accustomed to anyone listening to what he had to say. But who the boy was didn't matter – and as for him not having been around in the time of the Dark Masters, few of the digimon fighting beside him were old enough to have lived in that era, let alone to have personally met the Chosen Children.

They were desperate for independence, and they'd take all the help they could get.

"Formation A!"

The Airdramon fanned out wide above the canyon, then opened their mouths to engulf the queen of light's army in a storm of fire and wind – while the Gizamon, low to the ground, crawled slowly forward, occasionally jumping from rock to rock, until they spotted targets who seemed to endure the God Tornado and sniped them with their claws. For those they sighted at a greater distance, the Gizamon would instead suddenly accelerate, rolled into a ball, and tear through the Numemon in the distance.

But on the largest plateau in the center of the tornado, the queen, along with her cat and many of her closest retainers, remained wholly unharmed. Ken stared intensely at the ring on the cat digimon's lengthy tail, which lit up brighter than the fire and repelled Gizamon after Gizamon, until, like a beacon, it gathered enough Numemon to form a thick wall of slime which clogged any hope of further advances.

A herd of Unimon appeared from beyond the horizon and fired a volley of "Holy Shots!" – blue balls of light – at the Airdramon, who stopped beating their wings and blowing flames onto the battlefield as they sought to dodge the new attacks. Whether the shots hit or missed, nearly every Airdramon reacted by turning their serpentine bodies fully around and flying away.

"What are you doing? Giving up at the first sign of danger?!" Ken shouted angrily, but to no avail. With fewer and fewer Airdramon to maintain it, the tornado was broken, and the Unimon now targeted the Gizamon just as easily as they had the Airdramon – while many a Gizamon and other land-based digimon took their chances at revenge. Wormmon, brave as ever, fired a "Silk Thread!" at one Unimon's wing, but all the attack accomplished was to marginally slow its flight.

"I spotted the commander!" a Unimon shouted, then pointed at Ken with its horn – and Tailmon, not bothering to evolve, charged him on all fours, its claws looking as sharp and deadly as a lion's. With no other choice, Ken followed the lead of most of his army and shouted "Retreat!"

With only a small cordon of Gizamon and a single Airdramon left – and Wormmon, of course – Ken fled desperately from the canyon into the nearby woods.

* * *

"The ring on the cat monster... what was that thing, Wormmon? It looked like a really powerful weapon."

"It's a Holy Ring," Wormmon said. "Why?"

"A holy ring, huh." Ken looked up from his sketches, hoping his memory was accurate, but he couldn't escape the feeling that he just didn't grasp it quite well enough. But the fact that it was called a Holy Ring was enough to give him an idea. He didn't quite grasp how the elemental system worked in this game, and every game these days seemed to give it its own little spin – but if there was a holy element, surely its opposite existed as well.

If a Holy Ring could rally digimon to its bearer's aid, what would an Evil Ring do?

Ken had witnessed five armies, but he hadn't seen many dark-element digimon yet in this world – did they still lack a champion? Had he been sent to be their hero?

"Airdramon, I want you to spy on the cat digimon with a holy ring on its tail, and tell me everything you can about how it's made. Make sure my sketches match it perfectly."

"What are you planning, Ken-chan?" Wormmon asked, somewhat taken aback by his statement.

Ken smirked in response – a smirk menacing, yet happy, as happy as he had been when he first entered the digital world. "Hikari's not the only one capable of tossing rings around. And if this plan works, we may be able to replace the Empress of Light with a Digimon Kaiser!"


	5. Chapter 5

"So you're saying there was a new chosen child, Hikari-chan? And worse, he's attacking again?" Taichi asked – not as a subject or a citizen, but just a worried older brother, his concern evident in his voice.

"Don't worry about it. A few Unimon easily defeated him last time, I'm sure the digimon we have on site can handle him," Hikari answered with a shrug. "We have a lot of problems in the digital world – more than I ever imagined – and I think you and Agumon will be better used elsewhere."

"Still, a new chosen child. I wonder why the digital world chose one – are we really doing the right thing by opposing him?"

 _Are we really doing the right thing?_ It was a question which had often crossed Hikari's mind, no matter how much confidence and light she projected to her millions of subjects around the digital world; she was trying to ensure balance and stability, but it was a balance plenty of digimon found reasons to oppose – and some of the ones fighting for her only sought to exploit for their own benefit.

"We are," Tailmon said confidently. "You kids don't remember what things were like in the old days. It's a shame so many of your friends seem more interested in power, but even the most obnoxious ones have nothing on the digimon trying to exploit this chaos."

"I still want to see what this kid's about," Taichi said. He spoke like he was asking for permission, although Hikari would not – maybe could not – deny him that option. "You said he used Airdramon to create a firestorm, and you couldn't identify his partner digimon? He might not be a threat yet, but he's in the digital world, and we need to know _why_. Besides, he seems like a clever kid; the longer we give him, the harder he'll be to deal with."

"Don't go, Oniichan," Hikari said, clinging to her brother's arm – not like a commander, just a worried younger sister. "Something's gonna go terribly wrong."

"Maybe," Taichi answered, "but then again, something already has."

* * *

Apart from Agumon, Yagami Taichi brought only a small squadron of Tyranomon with him to the Misty Trees; the Army of the Digital World didn't have any other digimon to spare. But even if he had more digimon with him, he didn't have any way to use them, for how could he ask them to attack an enemy they couldn't even see?

The squadron scanned the forest to the best of their ability, but thick fog and trees clouded their vision; even if Ken was only a hundred feet ahead of them, they would have been none the wiser. Taichi could hardly tell the trees from one another, although a single obelisk in the forest, rising through the midst, allowed them to at least try to orient themselves.

"Should we burn down this forest?" one of the Tyranomon asked – and Taichi wondered why he had been offered _fire_ digimon of all elements. Did his sister want him to burn down the whole Misty Trees, Ken and all?

"No. It won't flush Ken out, because a forest fire isn't any easier to see through than this fog," a frustrated Taichi answered. "You're only here for intimidation. If things get tough, WarGreymon will do the fighting."

Taichi and his dinosaurs trod onward, with nary a sight of an opponent – only a soft whistling sound overhead. As the Tyranomon glanced up to find the source of the noise, the black rings which had been flying through the air opened and affixed themselves to their thin, red forearms. One ring landed harmlessly on the forest floor beside Agumon; a miss.

"Fire Breath!" One of the Tyranomon glanced down at his former commander and opened his mouth wide, and Taichi tried in vain to spin out of the way – but his shirt still caught on fire.

"Treason! Stop him!" Taichi yelled, but the ring which had so altered that one Tyranomon's behavior – even his eyes were red now – was not unique; if his shout had done anything, it had only informed the other big, lumbering dinosaur digimon that the first Tyranomon had not quite managed to annihilate its target.

"Agumon, Warp Shinka!" Agumon shouted, instinctively seeking to protect his partner, as he spun around and tried desperately to imbibe the light of Taichi's digivice. "Why isn't it working?"

"We've gotta run for it!" Taichi yelled, and sprinted away with his partner, making use of the mist and thick underbrush which had so recently stymied his efforts to find Ken; at least it worked just as well when it came to _not_ being found.

* * *

The pair scrambled into a cave, at least away from the Tyranomon, and Taichi reached for his digivice to send out a call for help. "Hikari-chan, you were right about either Ken or this forest. The Tyranomon suddenly turned on me, and Agumon is unable to evolve. Send help if you can track this message."

"Well, now that you're done typing, Taichi, come here and take a look."

"What are you talking about, Agumon? It's just a cave, what is there to – oh!" Taichi answered, and spotted the strange item his partner had brought to his attention – a red and yellow egg with a spike on top, an egg inscribed with the same symbol on his own crest of courage. "Maybe it's like a new crest?"

"An upgrade," Agumon said curiously. "But I've already reached the Ultimate level... can I even evolve any further? There's nothing in the digital world that can handle WarGreymon!"

"Doesn't that depend on you actually _evolving_ to WarGreymon?" Taichi teased. "Seriously, what happened back there?"

"I wish I knew," Agumon said sadly. "I don't think I'm too hungry, so why couldn't I evolve...?"

"Maybe this is an energy pack or an emergency meal," Taichi joked. "Okay, Agumon, one power-up, coming now!"

Yagami Taichi bent down and placed his hand on the egg, which instantly lit up, immersing the cave in a blinding, golden light; when the light faded, the egg was also gone. And three smaller lights, which looked to Taichi like fireflies, flew out of the cave, around the world, and through the Digital Gate.

A gate which had spent the last three years lost and tightly shut.

* * *

Motomiya Daisuke did not wear goggles, and although he looked up to more than a few of the older boys in the soccer club, none of them stood out in terms of his admiration – nor did he have a crush on any of their younger sisters. He had no idea what blue and white item had just flown into his hands – or, for that matter, how it was connected to the otherworldly creatures who had rescued him from another group of monsters that held him captive in Big Sight three years ago.

The gadget, as far as he could tell, was just another toy – if a somewhat mysterious one. It looked kind of like one of those old virtual pets, but no Tamagotchi ever lit up or flew across the sky. Puzzled, Daisuke fiddled with the buttons on the device, but he couldn't comprehend the menus full of black-and-white images, icons with less than obvious meanings, or text written in letters like none he had ever seen on earth.

But school was starting soon, so he tucked the device into his pocket and let it rest for the day. If Daisuke seemed distracted by wonder, his teachers didn't notice; he wasn't exactly a top student to begin with. His efforts during lunch break to understand the mysterious item were no more successful; the only thing he was certain of by the end was that it was electronic – although earlier in his investigation he had doubted even that.

Daisuke had never set foot in the computer club before, but he wasn't going to figure this out without _someone's_ help.

* * *

Inoue Miyako had first heard the word digimon from a neighbor in her apartment – a broken woman around her mother's age named Takaishi Natsuko, who was prone to wailing late at night about how the digimon and the digital world had stolen her sons away. Miyako had at first dismissed the term as just part of the ravings of a madwoman, and perhaps it was; she wondered at times why she had not given up on her inquiries when her internet searches found nothing for the word "digimon."

Maybe it was that she found newspaper columns in Natsuko's name running through July of 1999, and this wasn't the type of woman she expected to simply lose her mind. Maybe it was the marriage license to Fuji TV's Ishida Hiroaki, and the fact that he had taken a months-long leave beginning in August for "personal reasons". Although Miyako couldn't find the names of their children, this did suggest that something had genuinely happened to them – and it had something to do with these "digimon".

Every night that she could overhear Natsuko's sobbing, Miyako logged onto the family computer and asked the websites she visited about the digimon, but the messages were deleted within minutes from when she posted them. Even when none of the moderators were online. Even on unmoderated usenet groups, where deletion shouldn't have been technically possible.

And yet, in those few minutes, every now and then she did get a reply. A few people from around the world, describing what she gathered was making friends with them and fighting against (or was it beside) them in fairly incoherent, machine-translated Japanese. A couple other people – fluent speakers – alleging a connection to the Hikarigoaka terrorist attack and the Odaiba Fog incident. And a bunch of messages in letters she couldn't even begin to read.

Whatever these "digimon" were, the red and white device in her hands was connected to them – the text alone, whatever it actually _said_ , was enough to prove it!

* * *

Hida Iori had known the word "digimon" as something mentioned occasionally by his late father, and later his grandfather – who had often spoken at length to their neighbor Natsuko about the subject when attempting to console her. But whatever the term meant, he understood it as part of the adult world, something which had nothing to do with his life.

Until a yellow and white device shot from the sky with a burst of light into his hands – one identical except in color to the item Miyako had received. As the pair walked to school together, it was all she could talk about – and slowly, as the day went on, Iori began to wonder about the subject as well.

The moment his last class ended, a curious Iori walked hastily to the computer club, managing to get nearly bowled over by a charging older boy on his way there. He opened the door to see only Miyako – the club president, unsurprisingly the first one there – and the same boy who had raced so quickly past him, who looked like he'd be more at home on the soccer team.

"So I found this earlier today, and I was wondering, do any of you know what this is?" the boy asked, holding up an item just like Miyako's and his own, but blue where the others were red and yellow. "I'm Motomiya Daisuke, by the way."

"That's what I've been trying to figure out!" a frustrated Miyako answered, shaking her device and pressing buttons to no avail. "I know it has something to do with the digimon, but beyond that I've found nothing at all."

"Digimon..." Iori muttered, making a note to ask his grandfather about them when he got home, still believing he'd go home soon.

"Hey, Miyako-san, Daisuke-san. Something just changed on the computers," Iori said, pointing to the strange program labeled "digital gate" as a blue light spread out from the nearest computer, far brighter than he had ever seen it glow.

"This doesn't look like any program I know, did you press anything weird?" a concerned Miyako asked, "I hope we didn't get a virus..."

"Not a button. It's on the other computers too, whatever it is."

"Hey, that thing I picked up is shining too," Daisuke said. "Maybe they're connected. Like a Game Boy and a Nintendo or something."

"Well, time to try it!" Miyako shouted, holding up her digivice to the screen, then flipping it around as she scanned for a port – surely a children's toy couldn't be using wi-fi yet, right? And yet it lit up, all the same.

"Digital Gate, Open!"

* * *

As Taichi scrambled through the Misty Trees, he did somewhat fear running into Ken – who was, after all, surely the only other human around for miles. Then again, Hikari had been worried about him, and if his message had reached her, maybe she was attempting a rescue mission with Angewomon and a bunch of other digimon she couldn't afford to spare.

Put together, that would explain two of the humanoid figures in the distance, along with the fact that they were standing beside each other like friends. He saw three, like some strange alliance – maybe Ken had made allies, maybe some of the others had reconciled? But the closer he approached, the clearer it became that what Taichi saw wasn't Sora, or Takeru, or a crazy mirror image of himself, or some digimon species that looked human from a distance but wound up being covered in wings and armor.

What he saw was just three children - three _human_ children, all of them new faces – looking around lost and confused at the forest around them and the computer monitor behind them, and three digimon – each a species he didn't recognize – trying to introduce themselves to the kids.

"Where are we?" one of them – the spiky-haired boy in a flame jacket – wondered aloud. "And what are these creatures?"

"My name's V-Mon. I'm your partner!" a small, blue, bipedal reptile stepped out from behind the boy in the flame jacket, who seemed not to comprehend a word his digimon said. "Welcome to the digital world!"

"I'm Hawkmon!" a red and white bird said, bowing to the tall girl. "Pleased to make your acquaintance! I hope I can count on your assistance in saving this world."

"I'm Armadimon, da'gya!" Last to speak, to the shortest boy – young enough to have been Hikari's age when she entered the digital world – was a yellow armadillo, whose armored plates were covered in enough squares to play a board game on, if not for their rounded shape. "Nice to meet you!"

"Hey, you over there! In the goggles! Can you explain what these creatures are talking about?" the spiky-haired boy asked.

Taichi laughed. "It's exactly what it sounds like. You're in a new world, and you team up with your partner digimon to fight evil ones."

"I don't know, Hawkmon. You don't exactly look big enough..." a worried Miyako said. "And I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I don't like the thought of fighting either, Miyako-san, but if this world really needs us, I don't know if we can refuse," Iori said thoughtfully.

"I'm ready!" Daisuke shouted, energetically punching the air. "I can't wait for a chance to be a hero! Let's do it!"

Taichi and Agumon listened to the group talk, feeling nostalgic for their first meeting; the new kids seemed to take to their digimon and their quest with much more ease than they had, and they both looked forward to having a chance to advise the new children and their digimon and show them around. Yet one question did not escape both of their minds: _why had the digital world called for new chosen children?_ Had they become villains as bad as the Dark Masters? Were Daisuke and the others chosen so they could stop Hikari, himself, and the other once-chosen children?

But Taichi and Agumon's thoughts, much like the other children's introductions to their digimon, would soon be interrupted – for the Tyranomon army which had defected and tried to assassinate them both had finally caught up to them.

"Fire Breath!"

Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori watched a horde of lumbering red dinosaurs spit fire at Taichi and Agumon, with mouths agape. The pair dove out of the way, but a spike of Taichi's hair got badly singed by the flames, and Agumon's tail now looked a fair bit like a Charmander's.

"Can you evolve yet?" Taichi asked, tightly grasping his digivice and pleading.

"Well, I haven't eaten since last time. But I'm not starving, I should've been able to..." Agumon said, arms crossed. "Agumon, shinka! Agumon!"

A desperate Taichi, still on his knees, turned towards the new children and their digimon, paying little heed to the black obelisk behind them. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but my digimon can't evolve. I need your help."

Miyako and Iori shrunk back, despite their digimon's pleas to the contrary; both were too shocked to do anything but freeze in place, and too horrified by the concept of fighting – especially fighting giant fire-breathing dinosaurs with a small hawk and an armadillo. But Daisuke, observing the older boy in danger, courageously stepped forward, holding his digivice aloft.

"You need to say 'Digimental Up!'" V-mon said, much to Taichi's befuddlement; he had never heard of digimon needing their partners to say an incantation to evolve. But Daisuke had watched enough anime to accept it without a second thought, and not enough experience in the digital world to tell him it had ever been otherwise.

"Digimental Up!"

"V-mon, armor shinka, Fladramon!"

Taichi thought back to the egg he had spotted in the cave where he had taken shelter – the one which had produced three lights the moment he touched it, before it mysteriously disappeared. The resemblance between Fladramon and that egg was uncanny; it was as though V-Mon (in addition to getting a bit taller, and growing a longer tail) had broken it into leg guards, gloves, boots, and a helmet, creating an effect much like a suit of firey armor. His limbs grew added claws for weapons, and the spike which once protruded from the egg had become Fladramon's horn.

But the Tyranomon were still bigger, and there were still a lot more of them.

"Fire Rocket!" Fladramon shot a wide barrage of fireballs from his hands, but most deflected harmlessly off the Tyranomon; small digimon could be deceptively powerful, but this was no Tailmon, and fighting fire digimon with fire was seldom a winning strategy. But one fireball managed to burn up the black ring around a Tyranomon's tail, and the moment it was burnt, that particular Tyranomon turned around to shield his old commander and the other human children.

"This ring was controlling me! Sorry I have to do this, guys, but have a Fire Breath!"

"Baby Flame!"

"Fire Rocket!"

Most of the Tyranomon escaped the next volley of fireballs; the rings were small targets on large digimon, and seemed to control their bearers well enough to force them to move out of the way. But a few connected, and the Tyranomon who had been liberated soon sought to liberate their other controlled comrades.

The Tyranomon wearing evil rings fought back, and managed to incapacitate a few of their former companions, but it is far easier to break a ring than to take down a dinosaur digimon. In time, the weight of numbers shifted decisively in favor of those loyal to Taichi, and by then the battle could only end in victory.

Once all members of the Tyranomon pack were liberated, Taichi ordered them back out of the forest – and at last, this time, they found their way home through the fog. The Digimon Kaiser, wherever he was, would have to be left behind for now; there were too many mysteries which required exploring before they could hope to fight back.

* * *

Hikari-sama was always busy, but the arrival of new children was not something she could brush aside or refer to a subordinate, especially once she considered that they had rescued her older brother from grave danger. If one battle or another had to be led by other digimon, or even a whole territory lost, so be it; these were desperate times, and the arrival of new chosen children was the closest thing to hope she had received in a very long time.

"Welcome to my palace, and thank you for rescuing my brother. Please make yourselves at home."

Daisuke's jaw couldn't help but drop at the sight – a beautiful princess (actually, hadn't the guy he had rescued called her "queen"?) flanked by strange, green, sluglike attendants, thanking _him_ for meritorious deeds he had somehow performed. It was the kind of stuff dreams were made of, and come to think of it, the real world didn't have small blue lizard/dragon creatures calling him "partner" either. Then again, he didn't seem to be waking up any time soon. "Y-you're welcome, your majesty."

Iori lowered his head and bowed, with far more questions than answers – what was this palace, and how had a human come to rule this land of monsters? Who was this armadillo creature that had attached itself to him, and why was it urging them to fight? But if there were people or monsters who needed him, he couldn't bear to refuse.

Miyako was most willing of the three to accept the scenario, if not her own role within it; she had played enough games to grasp the situation, even if it had never been quite so _lifelike_. They were the heroes, there was going to be some quest, and this queen was sure to send her on her way with the rest of the party to save the world. But the Tyranomon that Fladramon had hurt seemed just as lifelike, and so did Hawkmon himself. (But why the male companion? Was this "Digital World" just not used to female players? Then again, the cat who accompanied the queen was a girl…) If things weren't so tense, spending time in this world seemed like a lot of fun.

"There is unfortunately one thing I must ask of you, despite all you've done for me already," Hikari implored the three. "Please help save our world."

"Okay!" an excited Daisuke shouted, as the other two echoed his answer in a quieter, more thoughtful and vaguely reluctant tone. "We'll do everything we can!"


	6. Chapter 6

Yagami Hikari reached for the digivice clipped onto the waistband of her shorts; she had promised the new Chosen Children they would be briefed for their next mission at 1:00 PM, and she needed to check the time. (Installing clocks in her palace would have made this unnecessary, but when she had tried, they were as likely to run backwards as forwards, and did either at highly variable speeds.) She felt an item where the digivice should be, but the shape was all wrong – rounder, more elongated, asymmetrical. But with nothing else clipped onto her shorts, after a brief moment of panic (did I lose my digivice? Again? Tailmon's gonna get so mad at me), a curious Hikari grabbed the item and took a close look at it.

What she saw was unmistakably a digivice – but it did not at all look like the one Wizarmon had given her. It was a copy of the kind the new children had obtained, with pink where the others had their individual colors – and with new buttons, none of them labeled, and she couldn't find the clock function. But while mashing buttons at random, she found something new to digivices, yet highly familiar from her briefings: a map of the digital world, with a series of pink squares that clearly outlined her domain.

The other Chosen Children's realms appeared on the map as well, with borders slightly different than those in her latest briefings; perhaps, given the way the wars were going, it updated in real time. Takeru on Infinity Mountain was represented in yellow, Sora on Mount Panorama in red, Koushirou in Factorial Town in purple. A small group of islands, somewhere in the general direction of Server (if not particularly close by) were colored blue – must've been where Yamato ended up. Jou's pirate bases, USB Town foremost among them, showed up in grey, and Mimi's domain based around Gecko Castle in green.

The independent digimon realms appeared as a sea of white, indistinguishable from uninhabited wilderness or ocean; it seemed probable that her digivice only mapped the realms of those who held digivices of their own, but Hikari wondered if it was making a different point about the powerlessness of any digimon lords against the might of the Chosen Children and their partners.

And centered on the Misty Trees was a sea of black, a sea rapidly expanding out in all directions, already reaching the base of Infinity Mountain while simultaneously absorbing half of Kentarumon's domain. It had already engulfed the Great Canyon, where she had first encountered its leader – for while the domain had just appeared on the map, she had no doubt about who ruled it.

And judging by Taichi's report, every other realm in the digital world was in danger. Hikari feared that she would need help to stop this new Chosen Child. More help than Taichi could give her. More help than the new kids could give her. More help than all the digimon who had stayed loyal to her could give her, much as she hated it.

It was time, at last, to bend the knee, to forgive the unforgivable. Yagami Hikari would not rule the whole digital world when this ended – but maybe, just maybe, she could save it.

* * *

Mount Panorama, under Takenouchi Sora's governance, had avoided the worst of the wars which shook the digital world. Sora, for her part, had bitterly regretted her inability to keep her friends from fighting one another, or from conscripting digimon into their feuds; she did her best to keep the Pyocomon village neutral, no matter how much they wanted Meramon and Garudamon to help them win some feud or another.

But the other Chosen Children, for the most part, respected her neutrality; it was hard to attack someone who did so little to provoke strife. She had begun to reject Hikari's requests for tribute as the Child of Light became increasingly unable to enforce her will in the region, and occasionally gathered the strong digimon in the area to scare off any locals playing warlord – but whenever a real dispute came up between herself and Takeru, Koushirou, or Mimi, she was far more inclined to negotiate the region in question away.

But this meant that Garudamon, for all her natural power, was unused to fighting more than one-on-one – and that Sora had not managed to gather allies, although at least Meramon would protect the mountain, as he had since before she entered the digital world. The Digimon Kaiser did not see Sora's realm as a respectable, neutral polity; he saw an easy target.

"Pyocomon, surrender your freedom to the Digimon Kaiser!" Atop a fleet of Airdramon, with Tyranomon marching below, Ken marched to the Pyocomon village at the foot of Mount Panorama.

"Meramon and Garudamon will hold 'em off, you Pyocomon need to run for it!" Sora shouted, ushering her subjects to bounce away up the mountain as Piyomon evolved twice, becoming a giant cross between a human and a firebird.

"Shadow Wing!"

"Heat Wave!"

Neither Garudamon nor Meramon targeted the Digimon Kaiser's army directly, which was understandable, considering the bulk of their foes were fire digimon themselves. Instead, they assaulted the ground in front of them, delaying their enemies' march with flames and smoke as the Pyocomon they were protecting fled deep into the mountain.

Yet their barrier was not impervious; worse, it seemed to exhaust the digimon creating it far more than those trying to march through it. Firewall after firewall appeared, flickered, and fell apart, and the Pyocomon's small legs carried them so slowly that they were only barely increasing the distance between themselves and the Kaiser's attacking Tyranomon.

But there was something in the repeated firewalls which jogged one of the Pyocomon's memories – for, deep in Mount Panorama, a far more ancient firewall had once held Apocalymon at bay. "I remember where we can escape!"

The old Pyocomon said nothing more, but with a desperate leader whose digimon partner was slowly losing the power needed to evacuate her followers, no one needed to learn more, or thought twice about following her lead. Had Kentarumon not been standing guard there, she would have gladly jumped headfirst through the flames.

"There are grave dangers behind this firewall, Chosen Child. I confess even I do not know what lies on the other side; only that it protects the digital world from peril, and that those who have breached it have only ever caused us harm."

Sora looked back to the charging Kaiser, as Garudamon, out of energy, devolved into a Pyocomon which looked much like the rest of the villagers. "So we're leaving the digital world… but we have no other choice. Meramon, Kentarumon, if you don't come with me it'll be like the Black Gears all over again."

In another time, without a pursing Kaiser – or even with more distance between them - they would have argued and pondered the ramifications of what they were doing. But there was no time, and no choice.

"Pyocomon, let's go! It's this or slavery!"

Some of the Pyocomon stopped, preferring life under Evil Rings to whatever awaited them on the other side, whatever had forged evils so immense the Digital World had twice been forced to summon Chosen Children to protect them. But others, trusting Sora and their elder, bounced through the wall of flames.

"Cheater! Hacker! Stop turtling and fight! You'll never win the game this way, and even if you do, it won't be a real victory!" a furious Digimon Kaiser shouted to Sora, who said nothing in response; she only ushered the willing Pyocomon through the wall until the Kaiser got too close, and then, together with her own partner, jumped through the flames into the unknown.

* * *

Hikari and Tailmon came alone to Infinity Mountain; even a small Numemon delegation would've sent the wrong message to Takeru's guards. If something went wrong, she'd have to rely on Angewomon to save her, but it wouldn't be the first time she pulled it off, and no Chosen Child traveled ever without their digimon.

The mission was risky, but she had no choice; the red section of her map had already turned black, and she had been unable to contact Sora, whatever happened to her. The longer she waited, the fewer Chosen Children would remain.

Yet the two of them were surprised by just how few guards appeared – rather than half an army of watchful digimon, they met with only a Bakemon, who lazily waved them around the mountain to the Village of Beginnings. "Just warning you, you might have to wait for a while to meet Takeru; he's busy organizing the defenses against Digimon Kaiser."

"T-thank you," Hikari answered meekly, like the old Hikari, as if she had forgotten just who she had become.

Despite the Bakemon's warning, Takeru returned from the air, carried by Angemon, only a few minutes after Hikari finished her hike around File Island's tallest mountain; whatever she had to say, Takeru cared about it far more than he did his desperate attempt at a barricade.

"Takeru-kun, I'm sorry. I should've listened when you warned me about using Infinity Mountain as a base." Hikari bit her lip and swallowed her pride as she spoke, but the spark which brought about their conflict was long gone.

"So even you can't handle that guy, huh."

"Takeru-kun, I didn't… am I that transparent?" Hikari fretted.

"Don't worry about it," Takeru reassured her. "We've all got a lot bigger problems right now."

"And by 'bigger problems' I take it you mean the so-called Digimon Kaiser?" Hikari asked.

"He threw rings at my comrades and they switched sides, I don't know how any human can do that..." Takeru recalled the memory with a shudder. "It was like dealing with the black gears all over again."

"The black gear incident happened before I entered the digital world, but I've heard a bit about them from my older brother."

"It was like it in more ways than one. Patamon couldn't evolve."

"The same thing happened to Agumon. I think he's blocking evolution… somehow."

"And worse, when I got home, my digivice had changed shape. I thought it was broken, but we did some tests and Patamon could evolve again back once he was away from the fight."

"Mine too. And three new children came, all with the same kind of digivice. I wish I knew what it meant; I sent them with my big brother to Koushirou-san, but I have no idea if he'll tell us anything."

"We were lucky to win that last fight, but this 'Digimon Kaiser', whatever dark powers he's using, will be back. Can I count on your help?"

Hikari nodded, holding back tears. "Whatever help I can provide. At least Tailmon's always an adult digimon, maybe she can do something even if she can't evolve. I've been so stubborn, I've screwed up so badly, but Takeru-kun… I truly am sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

* * *

Izumi Koushirou had spent the better part of the last three years trying to open the Digital Gate, building Factorial Town into the center of an entire empire for that purpose, yet success seemed no closer than ever. Vamdemon's gate had been rebuilt, and perhaps Yamato could somehow be persuaded to part with Gomamon's card. His spies had seized Elecmon and TonosamaGeckomon's cards, and he had emptied the treasury to purchase Unimon and Kuwagamon's, and won Digitamamon's through war – while Andromon's was in Factorial Town all along. A traveling Coelamon peddler had offered to sell him Agumon's card; he declined the offer, but gave the Coelamon the benefit of the doubt and did not arrest him for fraud, for he wondered if anyone but the chosen children and their partners knew that the card was a fake. (As for how Taichi had lost it – well, he was never the most organized guy around.)

But it was all for nothing, for the gate is useless without all nine cards. And even if Drimogemon and Gazimon's cards still existed, they were so far away that Koushirou was sure he would never possess them; he had begun to suspect they had been ripped or torn or lost in the bottom of the Net Ocean.

Koushirou's next line of research was into the digivices, and this was certainly more promising; they had, after all, opened the gate twice before that way. But his analysis of the device's power only confirmed what he had long suspected; each digivice possessed only 1/7th of the power needed to open the gate, and he was no closer than ever to convincing the others to go home. If only there was a different shape, or a stronger model, then maybe…

"Yagami Taichi-sama is standing outside the entrance of Factorial Town, and brought three other children and their digimon with him. He's requested an audience with you." Then again, judging by Guardromon's report, maybe he had been beaten to the punch.

From everything Koushirou had read about statecraft, he ought to hold his visitors under armed guard, being careful to surround himself with as many attendants as possible from the most imposing building in Factorial Town. Instead, he simply walked up to them at the entrance, welcomed Taichi, and introduced himself to Iori, Miyako, and Daisuke.

"So you want to look at our digivices?" Miyako asked.

"Just for a couple days. And they look to be the same model, so I should only need one." Perhaps confiscating all three would eliminate any danger from the possibility of a surprise attack; he didn't exactly know what V-mon, Hawkmon, and Armadimon could become. He just didn't care right now. For as Koushirou began examining the device, with all he had learned about the digital world's underlying source code in the interval, he came to appreciate it as a work of genius.

Over the next week, affairs of state would devolvefall into to Andromon's control; Koushirou was too fascinated by the D-3's other functions to do more than glimpse at the map. And he was so enthralled by explaining it to Miyako and Iori (and Daisuke, he supposed, but his companions were listening far more intently, and far more curious about the subject) that he almost forgot the quest which had enveloped him for the last three years of his life.

But Taichi had questions of his own, ones regarding the digital world's fate. And Koushirou had but a single answer for them.

"Do you realize what this means, Taichi-san? We don't have to keep fighting; the D-3 can open the Digital Gate at will! We can finally go home."

 _Home_.

"Come to think of it, I never did apologize to my mom for not picking up the ohagi. I wonder if she's worried about me," Iori said.

"I was so focused on all the stuff here that I wasn't even thinking about our world, Iori. Maybe you're right, we should at least say something..." Miyako responded.

"But can we afford to go home before fixing things here? You saw what those rings could do… imagine if no one was here to stop that guy!" Daisuke shouted, and Miyako nodded her head in agreement.

"Koushirou, we can go home. And I suppose if we really wanted to, we could do it right now. But I'm sure you saw the map on the new digivices; I think there's one more thing we need to do first."

"You're right, Taichi-san. And for what it's worth, Factorial Town will do everything in its power to help you guys out, because I fear you'll need all the help you can get."

* * *

Gecko Castle, in its long history, has often stood alone against the world, most recently enduring a months-long siege against the Dark Masters under TonosamaGeckomon's leadership before finally being toppled. Its commanding position on a cliff overlooking the Net Ocean made it no easy task to storm, and although sufficiently powerful digimon could damage its walls, Ken could not yet claim any in his army.

So a siege it was; a siege it would have to be. Not that it had to be a long one; he had only blockaded it for a day, long enough to erect a Dark Tower as a siege tower and convince the inhabitants he was serious about this little battle. And long enough to write TonosamaGeckomon to negotiate a truce.

Ken, of course, was well aware that TonosamaGeckomon did not rule Gecko Castle, and hadn't really done so in 300 years. But Mimi's army was strong – perhaps too strong to defeat alone with all the digimon he had captured. If he could turn Geckomon against one another, or convince Princess Mimi to doubt the loyalty of one of her most powerful soldiers, this battle would get a lot easier.

As it happened, TonosamaGeckomon did appear across the bridge under a flag of truce, to at least respond to his offer. But Ken had not come for an honest negotiation; rather than offer the giant frog digimon an alliance, or even terms of surrender, he simply hurled an Evil Ring like a frisbee onto TonosamaGeckomon's topknot. Ken needed TonosamaGeckomon, for it was the only digimon around with a powerful enough attack to shatter the walls of the castle he had so long ruled. And with free will came the option not to join his side.

"Kobushi Tone..."

TonosamaGeckomon slowly, hesitantly turned around, to the castle he had built and rebuilt, where he had reigned for centuries, controlled by a strange and dark compulsion, and sounded his loud horns in the direction of the castle – yet sounded them too quietly to tear it in two. Lilymon flew out of the castle's top window, carrying a furious Mimi.

"Treason! TonosamaGeckomon, I can't believe what lengths you'll go to in order to win back your throne; don't you have any pride as a lord?!"

"Flow Cannon!" Lilymon followed up Mimi's scolding with a blast of green energy that connected with TonosamaGeckomon's thick, froggy stomach, where it fizzled out all but harmlessly; its target seemed more angered by the attack than wounded.

"Kobushi Tone!" This time, a furious TonosamaGeckomon blasted the sound of his horns high into the air, aiming to avoid his castle, but still shattering a balcony in the process. Lilymon continued flying through a thick headwind, trying to get close enough to attack again, but all she could do was brace herself and Mimi against the blast.

All while Ken, for his part, cheered on, laughed, and hurled more Evil Rings into the air, enslaving the few Geckomon and Otamamon not hiding from the commotion inside Gecko Castle.

It seemed that Mimi would be defeated, until a shuriken whirled through the sky and severed TonosamaGeckomon's topknot; it made him scream out in pain, but hit just a few inches too high to also remove the Evil Ring. The shuriken's thrower was a white-clad ninja of a digimon, with more where his first attack came from; he had a giant shuriken on his back, and four more for hands and feet. Standing with the mysterious digimon (Mimi, much as she had fought with him, wished she had Koushirou's digimon analyzer on her right now) was a purple-haired girl with an orange helmet, an orange-brown vest, atop blue sleeves, and red pants. Mimi doubted her fashion sense.

Miyako, for her part, was awestruck at the sight of the Geckomon princess fighting like hell to defend her castle, together with her digimon partner and an army worth of frog digimon.

"Sorry I missed, Miyako-san," Shurimon said meekly, before preparing another attack. "I know you wanted to make a good first impression."

"Don't worry about it," Miyako answered. "There's more where that came from, and this fight isn't over yet!"

"Horn Howling!" An angry TonosamaGeckomon turned the new digimon's way, eager to avenge his topknot, and not particularly caring that a bunch of Airdramon and Geckomon with evil rings were already charging him and his human partner. Shurimon grabbed Miyako and extended his legs like cords, elevating 50 feet into the air and nimbly twisting out of the way of the blast from the perfect-level digimon's horns; the attack only managed to wound and scatter TonosamaGeckomon's own allies.

"Kusanagi!" Shurimon hurled the giant shuriken on his back at TonosamaGeckomon, but what remained of his topknot was too small a target; the weapon clanged harmlessly off the frog digimon's left horn.

"The rings, Mimi-hime! The Digimon Kaiser is using those black rings to control his army and turn your allies against you! Aim for the rings!" Miyako shouted, hoping Lilymon could succeed where Shurimon had failed.

"So you're not a traitor?" Mimi asked TonosamaGeckomon, seeming to regain heart. "And you Geckomon haven't turned against me? Well, in that case, fight back! Don't let that creep control you – your princess commands it!"

"It won't work, these digimon can't control themselves! It's like they're brainwashed!" Miyako desperately warned, as Ken, laughing, approached Mimi on his Airdramon.

"Surrender your castle before I enslave your partner too! No one can resist the Digimon Kaiser!" he taunted, but Mimi, in Lilymon's arms, held firm.

"We didn't surrender to the Dark Masters, and we certainly won't surrender to the likes of you! TonosamaGeckomon, you've listened to him long enough; show this Devimon wannabe what you're made of!"

TonosamaGeckomon had his share of reasons to resent the human girl who had so rudely woken him up and seized his domain, but she was bravely fighting to protect it, while he, controlled by some evil force, was doing the bidding of someone who thought nothing of attacking his home and enslaving his subjects. He couldn't let this go on.

His topknot shorn, TonosamaGeckomon leaned back and allowed the Evil Ring to fall off what remained of it, while taking in air. And then, he launched one immense "Kobushi Tone!" at the Digimon Kaiser's siege tower, shattering it, freeing the Geckomon, and blasting him and his Airdramon mount out of the sky.

The Kaiser had been beaten back – at least for the time being. But if she wanted to fulfill the mission Hikari had given her, Miyako now had an even greater task at hand.

* * *

Takenouchi Sora had expected to arrive in a dimension of darkness like the place where she had fought Apocalymon, full of strange and dangerous digimon (if they would even count as digimon outside the Digital World), and that she would be forced to hide and to fight until enough time passed that they could sneak back through the firewall without the Digimon Kaiser watching.

But the sky was blue, and the sun was bright – the sun? Why was there even a sun? She had found herself in a green field – and as she looked around it seemed less like a grassland than a well-maintained soccer field; the goals at both ends of it soon confirmed her suspicions. And the more she looked around, the more familiar it was; she had _played_ soccer here. The firewall hadn't led her to some dark dimension, but to Earth – to a world she had once called home.

Sora's clothes had not grown with her, like they had in the digital world; they still technically fit, but they were far too tight, as if designed for a girl three years her junior. A long time had passed, and she wondered what humans now thought of the digital world; were they all like that boy, the Digimon Kaiser, who thought of it as nothing more than a game? And the digimon as tools? She had half a village of mouths to feed, and she had to protect them; what would the government do with a bunch of alien creatures? Sora sadly couldn't exactly count on them being kind to the Pyocomon – or worse, to Piyomon, who had quickly regained enough energy to evolve again.

She did have one lead – and she regretted how much her decision to stay in the digital world, without a word to them, must have caused them to suffer. So with a horde of Pyocomon bouncing behind her, she made the walk to what she hoped was still her apartment, ringing the doorbell of a family she had not seen for three years, praying that they had not moved away.

"Mom, I'm finally home."

Takenouchi Toshiko tearfully hugged her daughter, immensely grateful that she was alive – and moreover, that she had finally returned. "Welcome back, I missed you so much... did Piyo-san lay eggs?"


	7. Chapter 7

File Island was the first part of the Digital World to be reborn after the fall of Spiral Mountain, the first place the Chosen Children had landed in the digital world, and their first base after they toppled and replaced the Dark Masters. And File Island was also where the Digimon Kaiser, much like his predecessors, had started to build his domain.

But he had first arrived on a different island, one far across the Digital World's seas; an island from where he watched Jou, Koushirou, Mimi, and Yamato fight the largest naval battle of the Chosen Children's civil wars. And there were many, many more islands and continents floating within the Net Ocean – some which swore fealty to a local Chosen Child, others to a distant one who didn't watch them too closely, and even a few which simply struck out on their own, taking local digimon as their leaders.

Protecting File Island alone, even if she had the forces to do so, would not allow Hikari-sama, Queen of the Numemon, once the unchallenged empress of the Digital World, to keep said world at peace. And if the Chosen Children were to unite once again to stop the Digimon Kaiser, it would be not enough to gather the six originals (or worse, five, now that Sora had disappeared) and the three new arrivals.

Hikari needed help. Jou's, Zudomon's, and anyone else's she could get. And there was only one digimon – and, Iori supposed, one person – who she could send across the Net Ocean to meet with them.

"So the pirate king we're gonna meet has a digimon that evolves with the same trait as you, Submarimon. I wonder what it means to be a reliable pirate king." Iori pondered.

"I don't know, da'gya, but it looks like we'll be finding out shortly! Hangyomon is tailing us!" Submarimon shouted, as a "Strike Fishing!" harpoon sailed through the water over their heads.

"Oxygen Ho," Submarimon began, as he turned around to face the Hangyomon, aimed his bladed nose, and prepared to fire.

"Submarimon, stand down! We're here to negotiate, not to fight!"

"But the Hangyomon will capture us if I don't do something, Iori! It doesn't look like they're interested in negotiations."

"Let them capture us, Submarimon. Don't forget that our mission is to meet Jou-san, and it's a lot easier to do that if we're already in his prison."

"If you're sure, Iori..." Submarimon answered, and slowly surfaced, with his drill pointed down, until he could safely open his hatch to reveal his partner. Hida Iori then stood up, his head barely visible above the water, and raised his white flag. The Hangyomon who had tailed them turned out to be leading a whole pod's worth, which had begun to circle around Iori and Submarimon while they surfaced.

"I say we take them for everything they have, and put the human boy to work rowing the river galleys with the other land digimon!" one of the Hangyomon shouted, to a small number of cheers.

"But they surrendered to us. It's not right to do that to a captive who volunteered. Our reputation is at stake."

"He's right, you know. We're pirates, not bandits! There's a reason we don't serve Hikari!" The cheers came loudest at this response; clearly Hikari had become some kind of archvillain in the minds of these Hangyomon.

Once he heard this, Iori began to wonder about the difficulties of his mission – and worse, about whether or not he was doing the right thing. "It's just negotiation, and she's asking for an alliance," he whispered to no one in particular, although he was sure Submarimon, at the very least, could hear him. "There's nothing wrong with what we're doing."

"Whatever, it was one digimon, and it doesn't look like a strong one. He was clearly outnumbered, what choice did he have?" another Hangyomon responded, as the cheers began to abate. "We shouldn't give them any credit for not resisting when the situation was that hopeless!"

"I dunno, I was tailing it for a while and that digimon can move, I'm sure they could've escaped if they wanted to. Let's invite the two of them to join our fleet!"

Iori sighed at the debate; some of the Hangyomon were clearly better disposed to him than others, but none of their suggestions left him any closer to reaching Jou-san. And worse, if the Hangyomon realized he _was_ an emissary of the hated Hikari, they might just harpoon him on the spot.

But this was going nowhere. "Excuse me, Hangyomon-san… I would like to meet your leader. I hear that he came from my world."

* * *

"So you say you met with a human boy in a Submarimon, and he wants to see me?" Jou, seated in a room that had once been MarineAngemon's home as viceroy – although mercifully, at last in a human sized chair (which had luckily fallen from Earth through the Digital Gate) – asked.

"A really short human, too. Probably wouldn't even come up to your shoulders," the Hangyomon captain answered.

"Did he have a Tentomon or a Patamon with him?" Jou instantly realized that asking about a Patamon made no sense; when Takeru was his ally he was short enough, but the boy he had briefly met with for trade negotiations, or fought against when raiding File Island's coast, had grown quite tall indeed. If they had remained in the human world, maybe he'd be on their old school's basketball team by now.

"No, I think the Submarimon was his partner; there weren't any other digimon inside. But if you want, I can check to see if it devolved, Jou-dono."

"Don't worry about it," Jou thought he had seen everything in these years of strife, but coming alone with a single digimon that _wasn't_ one's partner would definitely be a new gambit. Then again, he wouldn't put any strategy past Koushirou… or, for that matter, Yamato, Taichi, or Takeru, if the Hangyomon was mistaken about his new guest's height. "Was his hair red and kind of ruffled?"

"No, it's brown, cut close to his head, and as smooth as my own motor, you could learn from him. It's much more aerodynamic in the water," the Hangyomon answered, and Jou grasped what he was dealing with. Even though the very concept seemed absurd – hadn't they saved both worlds?

Still, it wasn't nice to keep the new Chosen Child waiting. "Come in… Iori-san, is it?"

"Y-yes. Nice to meet you, Jou-dono."

* * *

"So you're not Piyo-san's chicks?" Takenouchi Toshiko asked half a village worth of Pyocomon, who had recently assembled in her apartment. "Who are you, then, and what brings you here?"

"We are the Pyocomon, and we're loyal followers of Sora!"

"Loyal followers?"

"It's a long story," Sora began, but a single look from her mother revealed that it was one she would nonetheless have to tell.

"After we beat Apocalymon – the final boss, that monster that was messing up the sky here – we decided to stay in the digital world to help the digimon rebuild. If you thought Odaiba looked bad after our fight, imagine a whole planet worth of that," Sora began. "Sorry we couldn't give you guys a heads up, but everyone's alive and safe… for now, as far as I know."

"The other parents will be so relieved to hear that," Toshiko answered, tearfully hugging her daughter – she was _home,_ though who knew for how long.

" _And then we couldn't agree on what to do, got dragged into the conflicts between digimon instead of settling them, and started to play warlord; these Pyocomon meant what they said when they called themselves my followers,"_ Sora thought, but couldn't bring herself to say aloud; her mother trusted her, and she didn't want to mess up their reunion, let alone ruin the good news she was about to tell her friends' parents, by admitting to a litany of all their failures.

"Each of us were made responsible for a portion of the digital world, and these digimon came from my sector." It wasn't a lie, at least – just that her language implied that the portions were stable lines created by mutual agreement, not borders forged in long wars in which humans and digimon fought on both sides. "But then we got attacked, ran through a firewall, and wound up back here on Earth."

"Attacked? How? By who?"

"Another human child, leading an army of digimon. I can't tell you anything more than that, I've never seen him before." _But I've been attacked by plenty of humans I once called comrades; it was just luck that it took a new one to finally beat me._

"Well, I guess we'll try to keep them here for now..." Toshiko reluctantly suggested; so much had clearly happened, but her daughter was finally home. And she needed her once again – so Toshiko would do everything she could to help.

"I'm hungry," one of the Pyocomon piped up.

"We're all hungry. It's been a long journey."

"S-sure, Pyoco-tachi. By the way, what do you... eat?"

"Digi-birdseed."

* * *

"Really, an alliance gambit? Takeru, I don't know what happened, but if you're desperate enough to ask _me_ for help…" a bewildered Yamato said, – speaking into the one, strange portal that linked his home with Infinity Mountain. "I'm not going to fight other chosen children, but feel free to join me on my islands to wait this all out."

"This isn't a ploy, oniichan. You know just as well as I do that Sora wouldn't run away without a very good reason. Check your digivice myself if you don't believe me. We're in danger. All of us."

"Check my digivice?" a puzzled Yamato asked, then fiddled with its buttons, but found nothing of relevance. He realized he had never stopped to really examine it much, and was intrigued to learn it could tell the time and had some meters to check Gabumon's health, but how in both worlds was he supposed to use it to verify that Sora had disappeared? Maybe if he wasn't half a world away he'd still get the beeping at another Chosen Child being in range, but now… "What part am I supposed to check?"

"Yours must not have changed. Never mind. Listen, the human we're fighting against isn't one of the ones we fought Vamdemon and the Dark Masters with. But he's strong – crazy strong. If we don't put aside our differences and fight side by side..."

" _Put aside our differences and fight side by side."_ There was a part of Yamato elated to hear Takeru's words – maybe things would just make _sense_ again if the eight of them joined together again and faced another common foe. None of his periodic spats with Taichi had lasted nearly this long, after all. But it was sad to imagine that a common enemy was what they needed – after all, if that was the case, what would happen if they won?

"Are you guys really teaming up again?"

"For the most part. Some new kids showed up who were on our side, and we sent one of them to Mimi, the other to Jou, but I haven't heard back from them yet. At the very least, Koushirou-san, myself, Hikari-chan, and Taichi-san have agreed to fight this guy together. Are you in, oniichan?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Takenouchi Sora should've been asleep at this hour, but it wasn't easy sleeping in a room full of Pyocomon – some of whom were still chattering about the wonders of the human world. But they weren't the only ones talking, and her apartment's walls were thin enough to hear her parents talking about something she was sure they'd rather not tell her just yet – let alone the subjects of their conversation.

"Business has been going great with the new mascots, young people who would never think about flowers or traditions keep stopping by, and they always pick up something, but still..." a worried Toshiko said.

"And there's nothing like live digimon to provide a fascinating research subject. I've been able to write up so many interviews, and yet..." Takenouchi Haruhiko responded.

"How on earth are we going to pay for all this birdseed?!" Toshiko and Haruhiko asked simultaneously. "We've had no other major expenses this month and we're still depleting our savings!"

"Well, the Pyocos did say they were fleeing war, which makes them refugees, right? If we talk to the government and the UN maybe we can get a refugee camp set up for them. Then again, they're still stonewalling about the Odaiba Fog incident, who knows if they'll even help..."

"Maybe I could go to our department head and get the university to pay for it… I'm sure the whole mythology department would be fascinated – and the biologists no less so once they take a look! But I know it'd be hard on Sora if I brought them all the way to Kyoto."

"Let's talk about this more tomorrow. I'm tired." Toshiko added with a yawn.

"We've been a burden on your family, Sora-san." Sora thought the Pyocomon's elder was asleep by now, but that was certainly his voice she heard. "We have to stop this."

"He's right. And there's only one way to do it. Even with how hard they're trying to feed us, we're still getting weaker; I wonder if humans even know how to make proper birdseed," another Pyocomon added.

"I'm not gonna make you guys stay here any longer while my friends are still out there fighting this war – and I'm certainly not gonna let even more humans screw up the digital world. If you thought the Digimon Kaiser was bad, wait until you see our governments." Sora said bitterly, opening a window. "Ready, Piyomon?"

Piyomon cracked an eye open, roused from her sleep, and took a look at the night sky. She wasn't exactly an owl, and flying around half-asleep in the dark (although the human world did have an impressive count of lights!) didn't look like too much fun. But if they were gonna get out of there without attracting too much notice, it was better to do it at an hour where she could be mistaken for a meteor shower or something. So she flapped her wings, flew out the window, and kept going until she was hovering above the middle of the street; she could get pretty big and didn't want to break anything or start a fire with her wings.

"Piyomon, shinka, Birdramon! Birdramon, chou shinka, Garudamon! Let's go!"

* * *

There comes a point in any multiplayer strategy game, as Ichijouji Ken was all too aware, when players, wary of facing too powerful an opponent, form a massive coalition and combine their forces to stop them before it becomes too late. From what Ken understood of game theory, this was proper strategy in any competitive game with more than two teams which allowed some way to disrupt one's opponents – it was just that, in strategy games, the means of said disruption was far more straightforward.

A coalition such as the massive combined army he was looking at right now, composed not only of the assorted digimon (if predominately Numemon) in Hikari's service, but also large numbers of machine and mountain digimon. They had begun training together, and given their location and recent events, Ken was under no illusions as to the identity of their eventual opponent.

He had thought seizing Mount Panorama would be safe, especially given that its former ruler had escaped with her digimon partner; he hadn't even managed to eliminate a single player. And while his domain was by now the largest, it wasn't so by very much.

Clearly, Ken reasoned, he had miscalculated. Perhaps it was in the strategy he had chosen; Evil Spirals and Dark Towers had seemed to him the only way to catch up to older players, but perhaps he had grown too strong, too fast, and seemed a threat in a way wholly out of proportion to his still unevolved partner digimon and his far from dominant army. Or perhaps the game was unbalanced, and tactics like these were how the leading factions stayed ahead; who had ever heard of a strategy game that let new players join halfway through to begin with? At least the virtual reality was impressive, and the monsters were seriously cool.

But come to think of it, Ken reasoned as he surveyed the field from his Airdramon, he only counted four people. And one of them had the big, spiky hair he'd recognize anywhere – Yagami Taichi, older brother and loyal ally of Hikari _,_ with a powerful partner digimon but no fourth army to call his own.

Ken double-checked the map on his digivice, and it was just as he had remembered. Two of his remaining rivals ruled factions beyond the sea – even if they had joined the coalition, which he doubted, they were unlikely to join the battle in time. And a third, represented by the green domain near Gecko Castle, had proven an implacable rival of Hikari – one more likely to use the conflict to opportunistically expand at her expense than to team up with her against a new hegemon.

If this really wasn't a full coalition, if he could fight half his enemies at once, with a force large enough to actually beat them…

"Perfect. This battle may be hard, my digimon forces. But if we win, nothing will stand between us and ruling the digital world! Mwahahaha!"

* * *

Kido Jou gulped nervously as he looked out over the Hangyomon and other Deep Savers he had come to lead; he was certain this proposal wouldn't go over well. But he had a responsibility to the whole digital world, not just the digimon of USB Town, and Gomamon had alternately joked about their reactions and prodded him until he reluctantly agreed to do it.

"I recently received an offer from a Chosen Child negotiating on behalf of Hikari-chan." Calling her "Hikari-chan" seemed a bit unnatural after all they had been through – but at least it avoided the troubling implications of, say, "Hikari-sama" or "Empress Hikari". "She's willing to appoint me, or anyone else you select, as our governor. She offered to apologize for everything MarineAngemon did, and pay an indemnity for all the trouble the war caused. In exchange, she wants our help."

"If she's that desperate, I say we stay out of this – or better yet, team up with whoever's attacking her!" one of the Hangyomon shouted, to a cacophony of raised harpoons and cheers.

"What's gotten into you, Jou? Surely you know better than to trust her?" another asked, more puzzled than outraged by his leader's words – it was as if MetalSeadramon, out of nowhere, had suddenly proposed an alliance with the Chosen Children.

Jou looked down to his notes, unshaken – he expected dissent, to say the least – and continued his speech. "I am aware that joining forces with Hikari-chan will be difficult for many of you, and I assure you I would not ask it if I did not believe the digital world required it. The emissary she sent was a child too young to be chosen back when we fought Apocalymon."

"There are new chosen children?" The Hangyomon began whispering and speaking among themselves, puzzled by the revelation. Some saw this as evidence of a new threat, and were won to Jou's line of thinking – but others concluded that the new boy was being deceived by the very empress he had been chosen to fight.

"I believe our new enemy is the self-proclaimed Digimon Kaiser – a human boy who warps digimon's minds and enslaves them with these mysterious and evil rings, and the same boy Hikari is fighting. I'll be sailing with Zudomon back to File Island to stop him. Deep Savers, I can not compel your service – but if you believe I have led you well, I humbly request that you join me."

"Well, he's certainly been a better leader than MetalSeadramon or MarineAngemon! I say we listen to him!"

"And fight beside Hikari? I don't know – what if the digital world chose this Digimon Kaiser to stop her?"

"But if he's supposed to save the digital world, why would he need Evil Rings?"

"Maybe the rings are just propaganda. I bet Jou-sama's biased. He did fight beside Hikari against Apocalymon and MetalSeadramon, remember?"

"But then again, Hikari fought those two as well. Maybe she really didn't know what MarineAngemon was doing, I trust Jou!"

The Hangyomon, Coelamon, and other water digimon argued for hours, until Jou, confident no more minds would be swayed, departed on Zudomon's back. About half the Deep Savers joined him; the others, still in USB Town, continued to debate, as they pondered what to do about their leader joining their longtime enemy.

* * *

"So how are we supposed to get back to the digital world?" one of the Pyocomon asked. Or maybe all of them did.

"Well, at least Garudamon is big enough to carry all of you while we look," Sora replied as they circled in the skies above Tokyo, wishing she had a real answer; they looked if anything more disappointed after hearing her words. Their village was destroyed, their siblings enslaved by the Digimon Kaiser, and all they wanted to do was go home and fight back.

Not that they'd be much use in a fight, Sora thought. A couple of the older ones seemed close to evolving, but Piyomon or whatever else they became wasn't exactly going to turn things around. Best case scenario they'd snipe an evil ring or two… which wouldn't be much use against an army which had grown larger than Vamdemon's at its height.

Sora was still holding up her digivice, still scanning the sky for anything that looked like a gap between worlds. But it had taken seven digivices to open the gate the first time, and her own one just didn't seem to have enough power.

"Let's fly to Hikarigaoka. Maybe it'll work there," she suggested, concern evident in her tone of voice; she wanted to calm the bouncing, panicking Pyocomon down, but it was easier said than done. At least most of them were still sleeping; the thought of trying this in the daytime seemed even louder.

They did make their way to Hikarigaoka, but could see nothing unusual from the air. The place had been rebuilt well from Garudamon's fight with Mammon three years before, but the gap between worlds looked as secure there as in Odaiba, or indeed anywhere else.

"Sorry, I'm getting tired," Garudamon said, and descended into Hikarigaoka Park, which was probably one of the few open spaces in Tokyo large enough for a digimon her size to land without breaking anything. She set her passengers down and devolved back to Piyomon, leaving them no nearer their destination than when they departed, but exposed to far more cold and wind and without anything to call a bed.

"Why isn't this working? Why can't we go back?" A tearful Sora held her digivice to the sky, no longer able to hold in her worries. "How are we supposed to stop that guy from taking over the digital world? How can I protect these Pyocomon?"

The sky had no answers, but perhaps, in a sense, the Digital World did. Sora's digivice slowly began to morph as she asked her questions, taking on a shape identical to those of the new chosen children. The change startled her – would it still even work? What was that egg-like thing on the screen marked with the Crest of Love? But she couldn't afford to fuss around with it too much; she had to find the Pyocomon a way home.

Koushirou had mentioned something about the digital world being connected to computers, but Sora had never quite understood his lectures; when she entered the 24-hour computer cafe, it was only to stop and think for a bit, and maybe see if she could search out some kind of clue on the web. Sora only went inside because of the bright lights and it being one of only a few buildings still open at such a late hour.

She had not expected to be greeted with an already open, full-screen digital gate. But now that it was there, she had only one thing left to do.

"Let's go, Piyomon, Pyocomon! Back to the digital world!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Sticky Net!"

Wormmon was far from the strongest of the Digimon Kaiser's many digimon, and unlike his opponents' partners, he couldn't warp evolve, although he hoped the Dark Tower they had surreptitiously erected the night before would be sufficient to neutralize that particular advantage. But he just might have been the bravest of his soldiers, and no one, with or without an Evil Ring, would let themselves be upstaged by a child-level bug digimon.

The victim of Wormmon's net was a Guardromon, representing Factorial Town's forces; he guarded the northern sentry post (nearly as tall as their Dark Tower, but with a strange metal construction and a far squarer shape) beside one of Hikari's Numemon and a Unimon from Infinity Mountain. The Guardromon tried to free itself from the netting, but its arms were too short and the net had sealed shut the firing mechanism for its destruction grenade. The Numemon pressed a button which lit up the tower and sounded a whirring alarm back at the base camp, then slithered out the window and down the tower's back wall. The Unimon, for its part, flew back towards the army's camp, shouting loudly and firing Holy Shots to alert anyone who hadn't heard the alarm.

"We're under attack!"

"Shouldn't we shoot it down?" one Airdramon asked, but the Kaiser stretched out a blocking hand. "If I wanted a sneak attack, I wouldn't have started this by attacking their guard post. Let them come – we have everything we need to crush them!"

* * *

"So he's attacking from the north. Let's teach this digimon slaver a lesson!" an angry Takeru shouted as warning bells rang through the camp, rising to his feet as Patamon and Tentomon flew behind him, with Koushirou, Hikari, Tailmon, and Agumon following on foot.

"Hold on, it could be a trap!" Taichi said. "Don't you think it's a little strange he's only attacking from one direction, and let that Unimon escape to warn us? The alarm alone would've been enough to tell us, but he surely couldn't hear it from the guard tower."

"You're too cautious, oniichan. We outnumber him, he's attacking our base, we even have stronger digimon..." Hikari said.

"I must admit, that Unimon ploy was a clever gambit, Taichi-san. But I think Takeru-kun and Hikari-san are right about this; you do have a history of excessive caution, and we shouldn't need any help to win this fight with WarGreymon and three Perfect-level digimon on our side."

"Should I come too?" a familiar voice asked, from within one of the digital world's strange and hollow trees.

"No, we'll keep you in reserve," Taichi answered, and Hikari, this time, echoed her agreement. "If something _does_ go wrong, we're gonna need a trump card."

Four Chosen Children, an army of digimon beside them, gathered at the edge of their makeshift army base to confront a fleet of Airdramon and a marching Tyranomon horde, with a few child digimon mixed in. Meramon and Kentarumon guarded his army's flanks, wearing evil rings around their necks.

"I'm not gonna like fighting these guys, but it's our only way to free them. Agumon!" Taichi shouted.

"Me neither, but we can't free them any other way! Agumon, warp shinka, Agumon!" His partner digimon sounded proud as he turned endlessly, but the evolution didn't come.

"Maybe you really are afraid, Taichi-san," Koushirou noted; the words stung more than he meant them to.

"Or maybe the problem is with Agumon; it's happened to him before, in the Misty Trees," Hikari added.

"Well, I know you haven't lost your light, Hikari! Tailmon, chou shinka..." The white cat whirled around and around until she fell over from dizziness, but grew neither wings nor long, human legs to pick herself back up. "Tailmon, I guess..."

"Patamon, shinka, Patamon." Takeru's partner seemed to expect the result, but still sounded disappointed.

"I'm pretty sure he's found a way to disrupt evolution," Koushirou said. "And if so, I don't know if we have enough digimon to win this fight."

"I still feel like I should try anyway just to confirm this, Koushirou-han. Tentomon, shinka, Tentomon." The attempt was driven by the quest to acquire knowledge, but the powers of all their crests had been somehow sealed away.

"Is this the best you've got, so-called 'Chosen Children'? I didn't think it'd be so easy! The digital world will be mine now, mwahahaha!"

As the Tyranomon stampeded, Meramon and Kentarumon directing them, while the Airdramon flapped their spiraling wings, the Digimon Kaiser flung his rings and urged his army ever onward. Chaos spread through the ranks as loyal bodyguards became enemies, and the Chosen Children seemed helpless before the onslaught – until, from seemingly within a tree, an ethereal voice shouted "Knuckle Fire!"

The barrage of fireballs burnt a few rings in midair, but more importantly freed numerous digimon (mostly Airdramon; the Tyranomon, with wider bodies and rings lower to the ground, were a tougher target, Kentarumon was just too fast, and Meramon too fiery) from Ken's own army. Some of the fireballs were too strong and knocked digimon out of the fight entirely – but at least it counted as taking out his foes. Others burnt up Evil Rings, but left their unhappy victims more disoriented than angry; a few digimon even continued fighting for Ken once freed.

But many more fought for the Chosen Children, and it only took a few liberated digimon to spread chaos through the Digimon Kaiser's own ranks – especially after a lucky fireball hit the Kaiser's own mount, who attempted a "Tail Whip!" over his own back to cleave his master in two.

"Grab onto me, Ken-chan! Sticky Net!" In a better time, Ken would have reprimanded his guide digimon for calling himself anything but the Digimon Kaiser; in his current situation, he clung to Wormmon for dear life as it swung him around a volley of poop and grenades to a still loyal Airdramon, which he commanded to rise higher and higher into the sky.

"There! They must've installed a cannon on that tree or something – I can't see where, but everyone, attack!"

* * *

"So you're saying Hikari-chan needs my help, Miyako-chan?" Mimi asked.

Strictly speaking, Hikari had never actually said "help", let alone "need"; she was an empress, and empresses did not lower themselves to using such terms, Miyako supposed, especially not in diplomatic correspondence. What she _had_ said was to ask Mimi for an alliance, and to give up whatever she had to in order to get Mimi to agree to one. And she had also warned her that their relationship was quite poor, and that Miyako should be discreet about her affiliation with Hikari and careful in how she introduced herself, or she might end up in the Geckomon's dungeon.

And one does not, of course, ask in such a way if not in dire need of help.

"Yeah," Miyako answered. She could be civil and polite when she had to be, but dancing around the topic just wasn't her style. Maybe that's why she had been given the digimental of Purity; it seemed a strange name, but there were no illusions with her, purely her true, straightforward self.

"And she won't make the Geckomon share this place with Numemon or anything? And the territories I added to Gecko Domain, we can keep those, right? We'll need them for self-sufficiency after the digital world got all shaken up again."

"I'm here to ask your subjects for help, not to punish them. You saw what they did to Tonosama Geckomon with those rings and all, right?"

"Well, if Hikari-chan's willing to admit I was right… I guess I can help her. I mean, Ken attacked me as well, and it was completely unprovoked!" an indignant Mimi answered – if perhaps one whose indignation had finally reached the right target. "Thanks for the help, by the way!"

"Bingo! Time to teach that Kaiser kid a lesson!"

Mimi rang the bell to summon her attendants, with orders to gather the rest of the castle's population in a room she had once used to sing karaoke. "Geckomon, Otamamon, TonosamaGeckomon, prepare for the greatest battle of my reign. It's time we take revenge on the guy who tried to seize this castle with those creepy magic rings – and save the digital world to boot!"

* * *

Even after the Digital World was reconfigured, Gecko Castle was in an excellent defensive position – which was to say, separated by a long, narrow, and rocky trail from any neighboring settlements. At least they were marching downhill, but amphibians weren't exactly the fastest digimon, and neither Lilymon nor Shurimon was large enough to carry a whole army.

Although both Gecko Castle and the battlefield were on File Island, it took over a day of marching before Shurimon, rising high into the air on his shuriken legs, sighted Airdramon and fireballs in the distance. They had intended to rendezvous and meet with their new allies, but by the time they arrived, only a desperately jumping Fladramon seemed to be still fighting back.

"Miyako-san, Mimi-dono, I believe I've sighted our enemy. Kusanagi!"

"Kobushi Tone!"

"Crush Symphony!"

"Lullaby Bubble!"

As Ken tried to finally hit the quickly moving Fladramon and finish off the other remnants of Hikari's new alliance, as Tailmon, Guardromon, Numemon, and a menagerie of Child digimon (Patamon, Agumon, and Tentomon, mysteriously unable to evolve, among them) formed a desperate circle to protect the Chosen Children, a barrage of shurikens and noise attacks smashed from the forest behind him into his unsuspecting army.

"I'm glad you could make it, Mimi-chan!" Taichi shouted, and the chosen children waved at her and Miyako from a distance, as best they could see them amidst the smoke, fire, and cyclones of the battlefield.

"Seems like you're having trouble, but don't worry; Mimi-sama is on the scene. Lilymon!"

"Flow' can..." Lilymon began, flying closer to the Airdramon Ken had mounted, looking for that perfect shot – and then, suddenly, devolving and falling out of the sky. "Poison Ivy!" she yelled, her flower hands turned to mere vines; she wasn't nearly close enough to reach her target, but at least she grabbed hold of some trees and broke her fall.

"We haven't been able to evolve either. I don't know what's going on, but it's clearly ruining our chances of victory," a despondent Koushirou noted.

"Sorry about making you do all the fighting, guys," Mimi said to the comrades she had arrived with, then faced the ones with whom she had once saved the digital world. "We've just gotta hope the new kids and our digimon allies are up to the task."

* * *

Ishida Yamato had expected to travel back to File Island with only MetalGarurumon beside him, and most of the local digimon didn't even leave their respective caves to hear him say goodbye. Yet as he bid farewell to the digimon he had lived near, if never really _with_ , ever since he left the wars of the Chosen Children behind, one insisted on joining him.

"So this Digimon Kaiser guy is controlling digimon with evil rings? Those sound like black gears, and I still owe you one from back when File Island broke up. I'm not gonna let any Devimon wannabe take over the digital world!"

Yamato still struggled to tell the Mojyamon apart behind their heavily furred faces, but he still remembered that fight beside Garurumon and Yukidarumon so many years ago. Besides, everyone else was bringing a digimon army, so it'd be nice to at least show up with at least an ally who wasn't his partner. "Well, if you want to come with me, get on."

If one wants to explore the digital world at a leisurely pace, and is not entirely sure where they are going, a boat (swan-shaped or otherwise) is a fine means of transportation. The same is true if one is bringing large numbers of digimon that can't swim.

If, however, one knows their destination, there's no beating a large, Ultimate-level digimon capable of flight – in this case, a MetalGarurumon. Yamato took weeks to find the Isles of Solitude, but would spend only hours returning to File Island.

Returning, in this case, to another battle for the fate of the digital world. And perhaps, he surmised, returning far too quickly, for no sooner did he arrive than did MetalGarurumon suddenly devolve into Gabumon.

"Did I tire you out? I'm sorry I pushed you like that, Gabumon, but you really should've said something?!" a worried Yamato half-pleaded, half-scolded – he had come all this way, seemingly only to watch as the Digimon Kaiser's forces overwhelmed those of the at last reunited Chosen Children.

"No, I feel normal, Yamato. I just… somehow can't evolve." Gabumon himself seemed on the verge of tears, and Yamato dropped to his knees to give his partner a hug.

"Well, I'm not about to let your journey be a _total_ waste. Icicle Rod!" Mojyamon hurled an icicle high into the air, piercing an Airdramon's evil ring – but flying with too much force, straight through said Airdramon's tail, and sending it plummeting out of the sky, in no position to join them.

"Welcome back, Yamato! Glad to have some help!" Taichi shouted from across the battlefield.

"I missed you, nii-san!" Takeru added.

"Don't get too happy, guys. Gabumon can't evolve, and Mojyamon's my only other follower," Yamato said, equally apologetic and disappointed; they needed his help, but this was all he could provide. At least TonosamaGeckomon, Shurimon, and Fladramon were still putting up a fight.

"I'm not giving up. Petit Fire!" Gabumon shouted, taking out a Gotsumon's ring. "Petit Fire!" he added, aiming for a Tyranomon this time, but landing a meaningless hit on the dinosaur digimon's bulky torso instead. "C'mon, guys – let's fight our way to the other Chosen Children!"

* * *

Ichijouji Ken had attacked Hikari, Takeru, and Koushirou's alliance expecting no one outside his army to join forces with him. After all, why would they? Anyone could see that he was the bigger threat, and that victory here would make him all but ruler of the digital world.

So he was as surprised as anyone when a few Hangyomon showed up off the coast of their battlefield and fired a few harpoons into the gooey bodies of the Numemon surrounding Hikari. A few Hangyomon – Hangyomon alone, with nary a human in sight.

"NPCs," Ken thought aloud. "I didn't think I'd be the one to get this kind of boost, but my opponent must've done something to screw up their relations with them," he muttered, then pointed to the two speedy armor digimon that weaved through the sky, launching fire rockets and shurikens at his army's Evil Rings. "Thanks for the help, Hangyomon! These guys are the real threat; think you can hit them for me?"

"Oxygen Homing!" A torpedo of air sniped one of the Hangyomon from below, launching it far from the battlefield.

"Hammer Boomerang!" Zudomon, carrying Jou on his shell, was still far enough from the fight to maintain his current form – and although he shared the Hangyomon's level, his Hammer equaled them in size. And perhaps even worse, the new attackers came with twice as many Hangyomon of their own.

"I knew Jou was our leader for a reason. Should've known not to challenge him!" one of the Hangyomon shouted.

"I wanted to get Hikari, but not if it means fighting our friends! Guess we were too slow – let's make a break for it!" another shouted, and the rebel Hangyomon dispersed in all directions, none with the stomach to continue the fight if it meant battling the Chosen Child they had long hailed as their liberator and leader.

As the fleet approached, Zudomon devolved back to Gomamon, and Jou's followers deftly transferred him to a Coelamon mount within seconds of him hitting the water. But it didn't matter; even without Zudomon, they controlled the sea, and there was nothing the Kaiser could do about Submarimon's bombardment or Hangyomon's harpoons. The one time he did manage to hit one with an Evil Ring, it failed to fully control its target; he wished in retrospect he had spent more time analyzing what was ultimately his main weapon after TonosamaGeckomon had broken free of one.

"Everyone, stay away from the coast! Focus the formation on the landward side of the battlefield and let the coalition escape into the sea!" the Kaiser ordered reluctantly, as victory seemed to be finally slipping from his grasp.

But this fight wasn't over yet – and Ken still thought himself a better tactician than all the other Chosen Children put together.

* * *

"Well, we're back in the digital world, but where do we go from here?" a Pyocomon asked, and Sora had to admit it was a good question. The digital world was a big place, and surely there was somewhere digimon as small as Pyocomon could reestablish their home – but Mount Panorama wasn't it, not when they'd have to retake it and only had Garudamon to fight for them.

"We find food and rebuild there. You guys eat birdseed, right? Where does it... grow?" Sora wondered if 'grow' was the right term in the digital world, where no product, no matter how natural, seemed to have origins comprehensible by the logic of the human world.

"The forest!"

"Look for a forest!"

Sora was puzzled by the Pyocomon's answer; she had, after all, met them in an oasis. But a forest was as good as anywhere, perhaps even better – a tall forest on a hillside would surely be easier for a bird digimon like Garudamon to protect than a long, flat desert. "Ready, Piyomon?" she asked, holding her newly reshaped digivice.

"Hold on a sec, Sora. It says here I have a new evolution and I wanna try it out!"

Sora and Piyomon read aloud through the instructions on her revamped digivice, which identified the item contained therein as something called a "digimental", activated by saying "digimental up."

"Piyomon, armor shinka, Kyuukanmon!" The new form looked almost like a transitional stage between Piyomon and Parrotmon, with a mix of pink and green feathers along her body, but with the digimental's sleek white wings and a helmet inscribed with the Crest of Love.

"Sora scored an own goal, cost her team the game. Sora scored an own goal, cost her team the game." Kyukanmon repeated, much to her rider's chagrin, as she rose high into the sky in search of a new site for the Pyocomon village.

What she spotted was fire, lightning, a tall, black obelisk, and a platoon of Airdramon. And on the ground, in the distance, a bunch of Chosen Children, some of whom she didn't even recognize, desperately fighting back without evolved digimon – just an army of digimon allies, some familiar, some not.

"C'mon, Kyuukanmon! We've gotta help 'em out!"

"Sonic Shout! Sonic Shout!" the parrot digimon repeated, her playful voice suddenly turning loud and high-pitched enough to shatter glass. Sora covered her ears as the invisible attack progressed, witnessing it in downed branches, fallen Airdramon, and a shattered tower.

She didn't know what she had done – none of the chosen children did – but with her enemy's fleet in disarray, Kyuukanmon took the opportunity to fly over the battlefield and join the other Chosen Children, just in time for their digimon to celebrate.

"Huh, Taichi, I can evolve again! Agumon, Warp Shinka, WarGreymon!"

"Me too, Yamato! Gabumon, Warp Shinka, MetalGarurumon!"

"That tower must have been blocking our partner digimon's evolutions. I wonder why it didn't work on the new children..." Koushirou speculated aloud, as Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Tailmon all evolved back up to the Perfect level.

"Sora can't work up the courage, wants to confess t—" Kyuukanmon began, seemingly oblivious of the situation, or perhaps unable, even in a battle, to keep a secret. A blushing and mortified Sora inched up to her partner digimon's head to hold its mouth closed, then dismounted as she devolved to Piyomon.

"What happened to me?" her unarmored partner asked. "I'm so sorry, Sora!"

"I don't know, Piyomon. But never evolve like that again."

"Okay, time to evolve the right way! Piyomon, shinka, Birdramon! Birdramon, chou shinka, Garudamon!"

* * *

Faced with eleven children and their evolved digimon – eight of them stronger than any under his command – a disappointed Ken ordered his Airdramon to descend to the ground, dismounted, and lifted his hands into the air. "There's no point in continuing this fight. I can't possibly win."

None of the Chosen Children really had cause to dispute his conclusion, yet they still looked to one another as if they didn't quite believe what they had just heard; the eight veterans all seemed to expect some new evolution or grandiose final battle, or at least for the villain to go down fighting.

"I should've realized that leveling your partner was the ideal strategy," Ken continued, as the others waited in stunned silence. "Sorry about that, Wormmon; maybe we'd have won this game if I didn't go for the Evil Ring strategy. Looks like I'm eliminated, unless..." Ken began, taking a second glance at Sora, "Hey, how _did_ you rejoin?"

"Rejoin? Eliminated?" Sora half-wondered, half-asked; she had never quite thought of any of it that way, and didn't quite grasp what Ken was talking about.

"This isn't a game," an angry Takeru said.

"Well, I know the VR is impressive," Ken noted, not quite grasping Takeru's meaning. "But it's still a competition, there's still a way to win. I dunno how they marketed it, but it sure seems like a game to me."

"That's not what he means," Hikari responded. "The digimon are real. They're living things, not just video game characters."

"This world is quite unique, but I can assure you it's as genuine as our own," Koushirou added.

"What on earth are you talking about? Are you all out of your minds? These creatures are real?! Then why the hell are you using them to play world domination?"

The Chosen Children looked to their digimon comrades, then to one another, none of them able to say a word. After what felt like an hour of silence, the fallen empress, the Child of Light, Yagami Hikari stepped forward, looked first to Ken, then to each of the Chosen Children and their own digimon friends, and finally to the Numemon and Tailmon before bowing, her face pressed to the ground. "I'm sorry."

It was Mimi who spoke next – not to the Geckomon, but to the Numemon, Hangyomon, and everyone else whose toes she had stepped on in the service of Gecko Domain. "I'm sorry, too."

Jou looked in turn to his fellow Chosen Children, and the many digimon his Hangyomon had robbed – and the Hangyomon themselves, divided in the final battle. "I tried to be responsible for everyone, but I wasn't much of a leader. I hope you forgive me."

"Anyone would've thought it was a game," Koushirou mused. "And I couldn't do a thing to stop it. Sorry, guys."

"I should've kept you together. Hikari may be my little sister, but I'm supposed to lead all of you, not to listen to only one," Taichi said.

"And I shouldn't have run away," Yamato added, Sora echoing his words.

"I wish your first trip to the digital world turned out better." Takeru added to Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori. "We didn't exactly do a great job keeping things together. And Ken, sorry to give you the wrong idea."

Ken was certainly floored by the reaction he received; just what had he gotten into? Then again, it's not exactly like he was innocent. "I enjoyed the competition so much that I never thought to put the signs together that things weren't what they seemed to be. And in the process, I enslaved so many digimon and started wars no one needed. I should've known better. I'm sorry," he said, and then knelt beside Wormmon. "And I never quite treated you like a proper partner Digimon either. Seeing how the rest of them interact shows me what I missed."

"Don't worry about it, Ken-chan! I enjoyed helping you out, even if I wasn't quite the best fighter," Wormmon answered.

"I think it's time we go home," Taichi said. "We're clearly not the right ones to lead this world."

"But how?" Miyako asked.

"While analyzing the new digivices, I discovered a function which allows them to open digital gates at will. All we need is something electronic; even my laptop could theoretically do it," Koushirou explained. "And there should be plenty of electronics in Factorial Town."

"Take care of the Pyocomon for me!" Sora said, both to Piyomon, Meramon, and Kentarumon, and to all the digimon she had momentarily called enemies. "Their village got wrecked and I left them in quite a hurry."

"You're leaving, Sora?" Piyomon asked, clinging to her leg – a question written across the hearts of all twelve digimon partners.

"Guess that's another thing I have to apologize for." Sora answered. "But don't worry! We can go back and forth now, and you can come visit any time!"

"That's right!" Taichi said.

"I'm sure our families miss us like crazy," Koushirou said. "But don't worry, Tentomon, I'll be sure to visit plenty."

"It's time for digimon to take control of their own destiny," Hikari said, or was it the light within her?

"Goodbye, Digital World! Goodbye, Digimon!" The twelve humans who had saved a world shouted as they departed the land they once ruled, eight of them returning to a home they hadn't seen in three long years.

"Goodbye, Chosen Children!" What seemed like half the world's digimon – most of them bitter enemies just hours ago – shouted back in unison.

* * *

After waving the Chosen Children goodbye, a Geckomon and a Numemon met in a Factorial Town restaurant, no less regretful than those who passed through the digital gate. They had met twice before – once as advocates for their respective species in court, back when the Chosen Children were still a united government for all the Digital World. And again on the battlefield, after they had appointed Mimi and Hikari their respective champions.

"The gods sent us heroes from another world to save us, and all we did was rope them into our stupid, petty struggles." Numemon said, his stalk eyes drooping.

"You guys are welcome to hang out in Gecko Castle anytime." Geckomon offered. "We can even rebuild your old sewers if you want."

"Don't worry about that part, we have another home now," Numemon answered. "But thanks."

"We digimon really screwed this up, huh." Geckomon said. "I wonder if there was any point to all this. Maybe we should've just been left to the Dark Masters."

"I think we learned something," Numemon said. "They chose those children for a reason, even if they couldn't hold things together once we gave them power. Maybe they came to teach us digimon a lesson we couldn't learn any other way."

"Yeah," Geckomon answered. "No one's fighting anymore. I'm not sure who's in charge, but we all seem to be handling it a lot better. Let's make sure this stuff never happens again!"

"To the New World!" It was an odd toast – Numemon "holding", with his mouth, what looked like a mix of slime and very syrupy soda, Geckomon using his own horn as a drinking glass, and scooping it out with his remarkably flexible tongue. "May we rule ourselves together in peace, and avoid the mistakes of our monarchs of old!"

* * *

Notes:

Kyuukanmon is a real digimon, if an obscure one; she appears only in Michi e no Armor Shinka, and consequently has no canon appearance (if a parrotlike portrayal) or attack. Her description originates in my imagination and should not be mistaken for canon.

Oikawa (and Vamdemon within him), Archnemon, and Mummymon are still out there, but as Ken faced far more active opposition already ruling most of the Digital World, he was never able to build nearly as many Dark Towers. They'll try some other plan, even within this fic's dramatically altered timeline. But there's no good way to integrate it into this story, so I'll end things here.

I'd like to thank Vethica for beta reading this fic (and for being a wonderful person in general) and everyone else who left me feedback or hung out with and talked digimon with me; you inspired me more than you realize.

I hope you enjoyed it, everyone! Thanks for reading!


End file.
